Aromas of Christmas

What comes to mind when you think of the aromas of Christmas? For us it is the smell of cookies baking and the fragrance of an evergreen tree, but for Costa Ricans it is tamales and a hot cup of agua dulce (sugar cane juice).

One of Indigenous Communtiy Development International's (ICDI) current projects is helping four Costa Rican women and their families start a restaurant named Aroma de Montana.  Paul and I are helping the women with the landscaping and organizing the restaurant.  Paul presented the gals with a list of landscaping ideas and talked about their preliminary ideas for what to include on the restaurant’s grounds.  They will meet again to map out where to put their herb garden, plant shade trees, etc.

For the organizational meeting, I gave them each a handout with four principles, a pad of sticky notes, and colored markers. We first talked about a principle, for example “Everything has a place.” After our discussion we headed to the kitchen armed with our sticky notes and markers. We found places for menus, soup bowls, the blender, etc. Who would have thought negotiations were needed over whether to put plates at knee level or at head level, but they worked it out.  By the end of the fourth principle the restaurant was well decorated with sticky notes. 

I also took time in our meeting to talk about the name of their restaurant, Aroma de Montana. When I initially heard that name it reminded me of the phrase “pleasing aroma to the Lord” in the Bible. So I did a little digging and this is what I shared with the ladies.  The phrase “pleasing aroma to the Lord” appears eight times in the Old Testament book of Leviticus when referring to the burnt animal sacrifices of the priests. Hebrews 9:13-14 says the purpose of those sacrifices was to purify the flesh of men, and, in contrast, the purpose of Jesus’ shed blood on the cross was to cleanse men’s consciences and to make them servants of God.  A servant of God is to be a living sacrifice, in other words, to live a pure life that pleases God (Romans 12:1). Believers are the aroma of Christ to God, but to some people they are the stench of death, while to others they are the fragrance of life (2 Corinthians 2:15-16).

In conclusion I posed the question, how do these verses apply to each of us? For Paul and me, we chose Jesus as our savior many years ago.  Here in Costa Rica we get up each day asking God how we can serve him and love people he brings across our path. We want to be a living sacrifice and the aroma of Christ to God.  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family! Paul and Bridget