{"id":9186,"date":"2014-10-20T01:42:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-20T01:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=9186"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:35:30","slug":"scents-and-sensibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=9186","title":{"rendered":"SCENTS AND SENSIBILITY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some of my posts get rather long-winded and this one was in danger of falling into the same trap. \u00a0But then I realized what I had to share was a simple truth about GOD’S poetry in this amazing country of Haiti and I would best state it simply:<\/p>\n\n\n

When I first came here (four years ago this month) and again when Melissa and I brought the kids in 2011 and yet again when we moved our family here over a year ago, I could not help but notice (and gag a bit) at the smells of burning trash and open sewers. Those scents were not by any means omnipresent, but when a breeze brought one, it seemed inescapable.<\/p>\n\n\n

Now?<\/p>\n\n\n

Well, last week a visitor made a comment about the amount of garbage smoke and other unpleasant smells and it occurred to me that those odors really don’t register with my nose any longer – not on any regular basis. \u00a0And I don’t know why. \u00a0I guess I kind of assumed people weren’t burning trash as much. \u00a0(Which is goofy – there’s nothing else you can do with it here.)<\/p>\n\n\n

Later that same evening, I was taking Buddy for a run around the mission grounds to expend some of his puppy energy and as I came down the gravel road behind some of the houses, I inhaled deeply and thought, “Man, I love this smell.”<\/p>\n\n\n

Even as I sit at the kitchen table right now and type this, the same scent is wafting in through the screens of the windows. \u00a0It’s a flowery perfume that permeates the air. \u00a0It IS omnipresent around here – at least in the evenings and early mornings. \u00a0It smells a bit like lilac, only softer. \u00a0And it’s not produced by a particular flower – apparently (as it’s been explained to me by good sources) it is produced by entire trees. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

It has become one of my favorite smells in this entire world – right up there with bacon. \u00a0Seriously. \u00a0THAT is how much I love it.<\/p>\n\n\n

And since we returned to Haiti in late August to begin our second year here, after a summer in the States, I have noticed it just about EVERY DAY. \u00a0And each time I smell it, even if my feet are moving, I at least mentally pause and am reminded about the beauty of God’s world. Each time.<\/p>\n\n\n

And now I recognize this “tree perfume” as one of God’s graces for Haiti.<\/p>\n\n\n

And one of His graces for me.<\/p>\n\n\n

And how beauty quietly lingers and grows stronger while ugliness fades steadily to a shadow is a mystery to all but God. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

It’s His specialty.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Some of my posts get rather long-winded and this one was in danger of falling into the same trap. \u00a0But then I realized what I had to share was a simple truth about GOD’S poetry in this amazing country of Haiti and I would best state it simply: When I first came here (four years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9190,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9186\/revisions\/9190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}