The Aroma of Prayer

Often throughout scripture, prayer is compared to a pleasant aroma, rising like incense toward Heaven. I love that God interacts with us through all of our senses, even the ones we may not value as much.

When I contracted COVID in late February of this year, I lost my sense of smell, and my sense of taste was dulled. Four months later, it’s only slowly coming back. I have a new appreciation for this wonderful sense. All my life, I have taken it for granted that I could smell– flowers, food, smoke from a fire, perfume, bleach.. When I lost that ability, I worried about things I had never worried about before. Would I be able to smell if I had added too much onion or not enough garlic to our food? Would I miss the warning smell of smoke if there was a fire nearby? Even ridiculous worries– would others smell bad breath or other body odors of which I was completely unaware?

As my sense of smell has begun to return, I am amazed at subtle smells that tickle my nose– exhaust fumes, warm bread, soap, my husband’s cup of coffee in the morning, fresh mowed grass, pine needles, fried chicken. Some of them I had missed for so long, only to have them surprise me with their reappearance. Some of them, I still miss, but I am hopeful that one day, they will suddenly stop me in my tracks and cause excitement and thanksgiving.

God never loses His senses; He never forgets what prayer smells like; He never misses or ignores the aroma of our prayers. But sometimes, we lose the joy of sending prayers toward His Throne. We lose the aroma of prayer. We lose our taste for spending time with God. We may not be able to identify what is missing– perhaps we can still smell other things, like fear,or pride, or decay.

Thankfully, God is eager to restore our senses, including the fresh aroma of prayer rising on the breeze to bring Him pleasure.