Something Smells

Have you ever smelled a skunk?

I think it’s safe to say you always know when there’s one in the area. And you especially know when it’s been upset.

The night after we got home from moving my dad to NC, our dogs somehow got sprayed by skunks. And ‘lucky’ for us it wasn’t their whole bodies, just their faces and mouths. (Ask yourself- is that really ‘lucky’ though? It didn’t feel like it. Dog breath is bad enough by itself. And skunk is skuuuuuunk no matter where it lands.)

Anyway, it took us forever to figure out where the horrid smell was coming from. We searched all over the house. Tina even went to sit in her car because she was gagging, it was so bad. I asked a few neighbors if they could smell it, but no one could. It was making our eyes water and heads hurt. Sooooo bad.

I threw on some clothes because I had been ready for bed, but we were going outside looking for the smell. Couldn’t find it. So Jimmy and I loaded the dogs in the van, and drove down the road while waiting for RGE to come. The girls all took off together away from the house.

When RGE confirmed it wasn’t a gas leak (don’t look at me like that), but 100% skunk, we all breathed (I say that loosely) a sigh of relief. Then we googled a remedy, the girls mixed it up, and bathed the dogs while I went to bed. Problem solved!

Sort of.

The next morning, I put on the same shirt I wore the night before since I hadn’t worn it that long, and I knew it was clean. As I was regaling a few of my friends in the office about our previous evening’s drama, one of them says “I think I can smell it.”

At first I thought it was because my storytelling is so descriptive they felt like they were there. But then she made the mistake of leaning in and sniffing my left shoulder. She gagged and sniffed again. Skunk! My other friend ALSO leaned in for a sniff, and sure enough- skunk!!

My dog had laid her head on my shoulder in the van before we knew where the smell came from, and had given me the skunks.

NOOOOOOO!!!!

I couldn’t smell it because I still have loss of smell from covid. I even showered that morning, but obviously not with my shirt on. Too late to go home- it was time for staff meeting! Thank God we were outside, and Tina said she would bring me a shirt. But she had class until 11.

Sorry, everybody.

This of course, in my weird mind, made me think of my spiritual life.

There can be something smelly in your life, and no one can tell until they get close to you. You can even shower regularly, but if you keep putting on clothes that have been skunked, it won’t take long before someone is going to notice.

You may be used to the smell (of bad behavior, gossip, influence of worldly media, negativity, fill-in-the-blank) because it’s been part of your environment for so long. Or perhaps your sense of smell is dulled because you haven’t been breathing in the Word.

Regardless, the smell will begin to seep out of your clothing and into the air around you. And the ones who really love you will tell you that you smell like skunk.

And that will hurt your feelings. It just will. Even if they do it gently and discreetly, not spraying you down with Lysol in public.

It’s hard, but have to learn to see rebuke as a gift. The goal should be restoration and unity within the body. When given from one who loves you, in a spirit of meekness, knowing they also can be tempted and ensnared in sin, it can (and should) be restorative and healing.

When someone lovingly confronts me, I have a decision to make. Am I going to put on clean clothes and wash the ones that are dirty? Will I put effort into trapping the skunks in my life? Will I ask for help when I don’t know where the smell is coming from?

It’s not easy to humble myself and begin the process of repentance and restoration, but it is indeed essential.

Psalm 141:5 “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.”

Galatians 6:1-2
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (2) Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Ephesians 4:1-3
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, (2) With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; (3) Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”