The Fragrance of Heaven … God is Good!
I was driving back from dropping my son at school. I often take the route past my daughter’s school, and as I do I pray for the school, the teachers, those in authority, the children, the school community at large … I did so this morning, sensing to drive past and pray, to bless the staff, and as I drove there was one staff member in particular that came to mind …
As I drove closer, I felt Him, I felt his Joy Indescribable, and I had a flash back to earlier this morning of the same staff member hugging a student. I knew I was to stop on my way, run in and give this person a hug, a big hug, and tell her she was loved, that she was doing a great job. I had seen her, at drop off, bending down to one of the little ones coming into school, and giving them a cuddle. At the time I had smiled to myself thinking of the love she was giving out. I now knew I was to do the same for her, and in fact, as I write, I now recognise that I had felt the desire to run across the road and hug her earlier that morning … perhaps I had missed His first prompt!
I pulled over in the glorious autumn sunshine, ran in, saw another staff member and called out over my shoulder that I just had to give a particular staff member a hug. I saw the person and said …
“I need to give you a hug!”
She stood straight up, stepped over her papers, and with her arms open wide she let me hug her. I said as we hugged:
“You are well loved! You are doing a great job! I saw you hugging the girls this morning, loving on them, and now God wants me to give YOU a hug!”
We stood and hugged for ages. Now I must say that hugging is not my “thing” … touch is not my “love language” but when God tells me to hug, I hug, and I know that if I do I get a Love hug too because the love I feel as He pours Himself through, over and around me is amazing … I get touched and saturated in Him as well! Now, I must say, I loved this hug! I genuinely love this person. I feel safe around her, and the joy and love I feel for her is not just Heaven sent, it is genuinely me as well … and so it was His love and joy for her, but mine as well … and so the hug was equally a blessing to me as it was to her!
She stood back, covered in goose bumps and said “oooo that was good, you’re a good hugger … I felt that … look I’m covered in goose bumps”.
I smiled and said “He just wanted you to know you were loved and your doing a great job” and I went to leave saying “have a great day!” …
I went to walk past the first staff member I had seen, calling out my cheerio full of the Joy Indescribable that is Him and I felt the overwhelming desire to hug her as well, and so I offered a hug to which she replied:
“I’m always up for a hug”
And she ran over and threw her arms around me and as we hugged she said:
“Oh, you ARE a good hugger!”
I gave her a kiss on the cheek as I hugged her and the other staff member called out:
“It’s a good hug … I’ve got goose bumps all over me … up and down my legs …”
I called out grinning that I loved it too … that like a hose, when you turn it on and let water pour through, you get wet too, the hose gets wet with water too … that as I release Him, I get the His love too … and it’s GOOD … it’s SOOOO GOOD!
I ran out the door into the sunshine feeling Him flowing all around, and through me. As I drove homewards I realised I could smell their perfume on my coat. I smiled realising that I too had left a deposit of perfume on them … the Fragrance of Heaven, the Fragrance of Love, and that, like me with their perfume, they would carry His fragrance throughout the day … and in turn they would affect others … it was His fragrance of love, it is so infectious, and they had been imbued with it … as had I … as we had all stood and cuddled each other.
One of them had called, as I ran out the door “I needed that” and I can honestly say that “I needed it too!”
If we are willing to release His Goodness in whatever form or shape it takes, we are doubly blessed by Him … in fact, I believe, we are more blessed than those who receive! When we are willing to stop on our way and release His Goodness, His Kindness, in His way … we get wet, we get saturated by Him too … in fact, I think that these words describe it to a tee … and those words are … pure and simple …
God IS Good!