Scientists say that when we first smell a new aroma our minds firmly link that scent with a specific feeling or memory. Then for the rest of our lives we associate that smell with an emotion, especially if the smell and emotion is reinforced over time. With that little tidbit in mind let me tell you (by way of a ridiculously long story) what I have been pondering for the last two weeks. Enjoy!
Have you ever noticed that autumn has a distinct scent? It's crisp and cool when you breathe in, allowing you to smell the aroma of freshly overturned earth mixed in with warm just-out-of-the-oven berry pie and the faint wisp of wood burning in cozy backyard fires. Did you smell it? It's thrilling really; that first hint that says fall is approaching. Without a doubt I know that the scents previously described - when combined with a slight coolness in the air - immediately conjure up 'autumn' in my mind. Then like dominoes falling in rapid succession my thoughts of autumn fall into a swell of emotion which lift my mood to happiness and then to a state of pure delight. This phenomenon occurs regardless of how lofty or vile my mood was prior to the influence of autumn.
During my meteoric rise to happiness a pesky problem usually decides to let itself in the side door. While the revival of my love for all things autumnal is taking place, this uninvited problem rides on the coattails of my emotions and then waits on the sidelines for me to let down my guard. Once my emotions are thoroughly entrenched in the thrill of my favorite season and I am lost in the planning of outdoor gatherings around a bountiful table most certainly decorated with the ideas that I’ve carefully sought over the last year, the problem enters stage-left and I find myself broke. Not broken, just broke. As in, I got so involved and excited that my involved and excited emotions just spent my whole paycheck on things I didn’t know I needed until five minutes ago when I caught the scent of autumn on the breeze. Still with me?
You see the problem is that I start thinking about all the things I want to do, get and accomplish during the few short weeks fall graces us Floridians each year. I start thinking that I want to decorate the house and yard; then I want to invite friends and family to celebrate life with me whilst enjoying my oh-so-lovely decorations I bought courtesy of MasterCard. I want to feel cozy, confident and beautiful therefore I really, really, really want this particular sweaterdress that I cannot afford. I want to capture the feeling of freedom I just had when I breathed in autumn and savor it all year long; but somewhere along the line I became confused and thought I had to choose between my budget and my memory induced feelings.
Ironic how I feel I need to buy something in order to relive a time in my life when money and possessions didn’t matter. A time when, unbeknownst to my nine year old self, my family was desperately struggling to make ends meet. A struggle won by the grace of God. My emotions got muddled in with years of top-notch marketing campaigns and I forgot that my friends and family will celebrate life with me regardless of fancy baubles or strategically placed pumpkins. I had forgotten that He who made the Earth and all that lives and breathes said that I am beautiful, no outrageously expensive sweaterdress required. Furthermore, I had forgotten that He made the season I relish so and that it is He who allows me to relish it for another year.
So now, after much ado about autumn, you ask “What is the moral of this verbose story”? The moral is that the same God who made the seasons, who turns leaves all over the world into a sea of colorful brilliance, who calls us His children and says that we are loved, has called us to be better stewards of what He has so graciously given. The resolution I plan is this – that by the end of this fleeting Florida fall my brain will be prayerfully retrained to link with its creator when I breathe in the scent of autumn.
