Dear Reader:

Thank you for your overwhelming responses to your favorite “heavenly” smell. I so enjoyed reading them and after each….I would say “Oh yes…that’s a wonderful choice…how could I have forgotten that scent?”

We use the expression that something “smells heavenly” when we smell something delicious cooking on the stove or upon entering a garden filled with floral scents of every kind. Perhaps this expression appears when we are trying on different perfumes or colognes to see how they mix with our own chemistry.

The one thing we don’t know, of course, is how heaven really does smell. So it is left up to our imagination to fill in with the scents we so love here on earth…the ones you selected…many coming from earlier memories as a child.

So I thought it would be fun to take an imaginary journey through heaven where all of our selected scents, our ‘heavenly smells’ are ‘just around the bend’ awaiting our arrival.

For me…heaven would be in the form of a garden…but unlike any garden we have experienced here on earth…. this garden would be comprised of beautiful waterfalls, mountains, rocks, forests, jungles, lakes, river, ponds, and deserts. This never-ending place of beauty would have little paths running through each terrain…even under waterfalls. One never would know what is around the bend and what scent awaits at the end of the turn.

We would never be wary of the ‘next bend in the road’ because we would know it is going to be more beautiful than the one we just completed…no scary surprises like on earth…just a garden shaped by joy and happiness filled with all God’s children and creatures living together in perfect harmony…in unconditional love.

So come with me as we travel through the “heavenly smells” of eternity…the scents that have captured our love in this life.

Now imagine being able to fly along the paths of this garden, set within this never-ending perimeters of beauty, and we meet each bend in the road with the same excited anticipation we had as a child on Christmas Eve.

Let’s start under a waterfall…we discover, to our amazement, that we never get wet…we can smell the wonderful scent of clean, pure water without a drop falling on us…we are seeing heaven through only the two sensory gifts of smell and sight.

Upon leaving the waterfall…to our amazement…..clotheslines filled with clean sheets, clothes, and linens appear that have dried in the sun. The most wondrous scent of freshness and cleanliness permeates this spot filling the air completely.

As we fly around  the next bend a field of lilacs await us…the scent of these beautiful plants fill us with joy.

This field stands out from all the other parts of the garden because it has rows…whereas everything else is made up of wildflowers….growing at will where they simply want to grow.

Baskets of lilacs await anyone who wishes to sit awhile and simply be with the lilacs.

“The gardens that make us happiest
flourish because we have taken the time
to make sure they feed our souls
and fill a special place in our lives.”

Suddenly rain begins to fall…and oh what a wonderful fresh smell arises from the field of zinnias in all their bright rainbow colors!

Around the following turn the smell of cookies await us…followed by the scents of people we have loved…the combination is almost overwhelming in its fulfillment of sheer joy.

A field of corn appears around the next bend and it reminds us of just how wonderful corn on the cob smells and tastes.

Puppies in baskets with little children…oh the beauty of creation and all who dwell within. A scent unlike any other rises to meet us from the basket…scent of new life.

The smell of freshly cut hay consumes every fiber of our being as we slow down to take in this beautiful pastoral scene.

Suddenly we see a farmer bend down and pick up a fistful of of rich, black dirt and the scent sends us flying in circles…the smell of the land…the foundation.

Then from dirt to cleanliness…the scents of clean babies and small children to husbands caught shaving…the scent of cleanliness provokes wonderful memories of love.

Who would have thought that the next turn in the garden would carry us into Fall with all its beauty and scents of the season?

The smells of bonfires, pumpkin pies… the feel of warm mittens and hats…the season of Fall is the most beloved season of all.

And speaking of bonfires….a sudden turn takes us to an area filled with freshly cut wood….the smell brings back so many memories of warm winter nights beside the family fireplace.

Upon completing the next bend in the path a beautiful lemon tree, filled to capacity, patiently awaits its time to be picked for the wonderful aroma to be released and fill the surroundings.

Suddenly…all the different terrains and bodies of water start appearing faster and faster…as our trip continues at almost neck-break speed.

The colors of all the wildflowers and natural resources are blending together in a wild escapade until suddenly Stephanie hears a voice from her mother…“Are you daydreaming or something? Here dry this last plate and we are finished with the dish washing tonight.”

Little Stephanie stares at the Ivory dish detergent with that wonderful smell she loves and somehow knows that she will always connect that scent to this special time spent with her mother. (And she did!)

So until tomorrow…I hope you enjoyed our reverie into “heavenly smells”…it took a little bit of “finagling” to try and get everyone’s favorite scent selection in….but hopefully I got close at least. I finished the blog around 7:00 so if you sent in something after that it probably didn’t get in the story but thank you for participating. I loved all the ideas and selections.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Susan Cadwell, her mom Nancy, and granddaughter, Ady came to Summerville tyesterday…we went over to the Presbyterian Village to see Rainey Bernhardt and Connie Judson before heading out for lunch. It was so good to see our church gals again! We got a picture with Rainey but Connie was hard at it in physical therapy…next time.

*Honey, thank you again and again for the little flower vases you make…they are just perfect to hold flowers from the garden and just the right size for small bed-side night tables…like at the Village.