Limburger cheese, spoiled milk, your baby's diapers, garbage cans, yuck!  Some things just stink!  Isn't it amazing how certain smells can evoke such a strong response?  At the same time, certain scents can trigger memories or even bring certain emotions.  Smells are a part of life.  When was the last time you smelled something legitimately new?  You know, NEW, as in: I never knew this smell existed!  And when was the last time you caught a whiff of something that was new and good?  If you're like me, it doesn't happen every day.   New smells are just not part of my routine. 

     The other day, I smelled something new. You might know them as May Apples or American Mandrakes, but this little fruit looks like a big pod of boring.  There it was, sitting on the ground next to the withered, brownish leaf from the stalk that bore it and I picked it up.  If appearances matched scents, this odd fruit should have smelled like nothing special.  The ripe mandrake looks like a large, opaque, yellow raisin.  Boring.  I half-expected it to smell like dirt, or wilted lettuce.  But, it didn't.  No, when I lifted the little thing and inhaled, I was treated to a sensory picnic.  Images of bright colors, mouth-watering delicacies and even pleaseant emotions flooded my mind.  I know it sounds hokey, but my face lit up and I actually smiled after just smelling this strange little fruit.   I was shocked.  I had just smelled a smell that I'd never smelled before; and it was good.

     Call me jaded, call me boring, call me Darryl, but I was so surprised at smelling something completely new.  I just don't do the kind of new things that bring me into contact with new fruit.  Still, there it was, a mandrake -that little fruit that seemed to be borrowed from some undiscovered island where the water is sweet and the skies are only blue, all the time. 

     So, as usual, that's not the end of the story.  Cool as it may be, I don't really care about mandrakes.  Seriously, though, what can you do with a fruit but smell it and eat it?  Even that gets old after awhile!  So, why the blog about a mandrake?  Well, like so many things, if we'll let it, the mandrake can point us to something bigger, something or even better, some ONE more valuable.  See, heaven is full of mandrakes.  What I mean to say is that I have a whole new appreciation-for and wonder-about heaven after smelling a new, delicious fruit.  What will it be like when we are face to face with the Creator of the Universe, the God of Gods, the Sustainer of all things; Jesus, the One who makes "all things new!?"

  Sometimes, life here gets so painful, so full of disappointment that it's easy to forget the wonder, the awe, the anticipation that there is in God.  He is drawing us to himself and there, with Him, is an amazing place to be.  This is the One who created mandrakes.  God made scents that help us to!  God created the molecules that spray off a lemon and land on my nose, where the message is sent to my brain to say "Ah, a fresh lemon!"  This is the Lord!  He is the One I serve.  He is the One who draws to himself both for now and in all eternity. 

Heaven is full of mandrakes, new things that spring from the source of life, the source of beauty and the One who makes us glad.  Won't you give heaven some thoughts today as you go?  What do you think of when you imagine heaven?   What is the great things about God that makes you long to be with Him?