Cars, Body Odors... Nigeria!
The old driver resumed as the new driver (long story)... but it was a new problem... His body odor was such an issue. Everyone EVERYONE was battered by it (This isn’t a post to put him down)
The car has had our different scents from the new car scent to Chanel to Gucci and all the various pleasant perfumes!
But just one whiff of such a bad odor and the car was in a bad shape.
Everyday the driver would get in with his less than pleasant smell... and I would get in with my sweet smelling self, but what won the battle was always his body odor... especially when the car had been parked for a bit.
Even when he's not there, there's a stamp of his smell. I would get in the car and have to put the windows down just to dispel the smell.
The story of the car mirrors life. You could do all the good always (smell nice) and everyone loves you... but one bad is all it takes to overwhelm every good thing.
Suddenly the humans that we are forget how good a person was or has been in the past as the one bad he's done glares at us... we point fingers, distance ourselves and whisper loudly. We are executors of those with weaknesses once exposed.
Life amplifies the bad over the good.
The bad smell over the nice scents.
But God doesn’t judge us by our mistakes and weaknesses, even if mistakes are all we make. The good always outweighs the bad in His eyes. And what’s that one good we can do to get God’s attention? Our believe and acceptance of the truth of the gospel. (Christ died for our sins, he was buried and he rose again according to scriptures) That’s why He loves us through our struggles to get to the place of perfection which each step takes us to. I believe He wouldn’t let the one bad smell, cloud over the other sweet scents from us.
I'm not saying we should tolerate abuse from people or encourage them to continue in their weaknesses. I'm just saying we should find a way to love them through their bad times. Maybe just one encouraging word from you that isn't spiced with judgment but laced with love is all the comfort they need or the tap to wake up to learn from their mistakes. (And sometimes they are unaware of their smell if they are not told)
Jesus healed the woman who had been bent over for 28yrs and the Pharisees let the bad smell of him doing it on the Sabbath (against their law) outweigh the glory and beauty of what he had just done9Luke 13:10-17)... a lot of stories like this found in the Bible... Even with all the sweet fragrance of Jesus ministry on earth and the strong Oud fragrance of the sacrifice was not enough to quench their sniff of how bad it smelled because it was against their law.
Let's not be quick to forget the good in people when we smell the bad emanating from them. It's a lesson I'm still perfecting in.
I’m Nigerian. I love my country… we just turned 57 on the 1st of October and we have a lot of disgruntled citizens, who frankly cant be faulted. Nigeria may have a lot of bad smells... but you've got to admit there's a lot of pleasant smells emanating from her as well. Don't let the bad smell be the stamp you put on her... As a citizen, I will love her through her weaknesses and lovingly guide her to overcome it in my own corner, in my own way, by doing whatever I do well. Let the good smell outweigh the bad... that's how you can truly rise and pray for her with conviction, that's how you can consciously work towards the change you hope for in her..
Happy independence to Nigeria.
Positive assumption helps too even when we can't let the good outweigh the bad. Making excuses for that one flaw that springs out of the variety of emotions a person has is a good way to shut judgemental eyes. profound piece!
ReplyDeleteOh yea! and a catchy title you've got there. Nice!
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