A number of years ago, I had the opportunity to travel with some good friends to Seattle for a couple of Mariners games. A huge highlight of the trip (for me) was eating an order of Safeco Field’s popular garlic fries, loaded with lots and lots of chopped garlic cloves. The fries were absolutely delicious and truly enhanced what was already a magical experience at the ballpark.
If you’ve ever eaten a large amount of garlic, you know what happens for some time after you eat. You smell very strongly of garlic and there’s not much you can do about it. You can brush your teeth, scrub your tongue with a paper towel, chew gum, eat breath mints, wipe the gum or mint juice all over your face, etc., but the smell will likely stay with you until at least the following day.
A few of us on the Seattle trip had eaten garlic fries and then drove back to Spokane the next day. The day after that (now two days removed from the garlic fry consumption), the wife of the guy who had driven our group to Seattle and back got into her car and said, “this thing reeks of garlic!” The issue with garlic is that the odor doesn’t just come from your mouth, it’s actually expunged through your pores as you sweat, as well as through your mouth. In other words, you can’t contain the smell no matter what you try.
When we struggle to undergo genuine change in our lives, we often deal with the exterior, surface-level problems and not the true, foundational issues. Take our struggle to forgive others for example. We might read some books and go through some counseling, but if that’s all we rely upon, it’s like rubbing gum or mint juice on the problem—over time we realize that the core issue is still with us. Forgiveness is first and foremost a spiritual issue; therefore, we must engage in uniquely spiritual activities to allow God’s grace to heal and change us.
Deep down at the heart level, what’s the source of your “garlic odor?” For me, I think it’s relying too much upon myself and not truly giving everything to God and letting Him do the work that only He can do. Whenever I find myself in the driver’s seat of the car that is my life, I need to get out, move over to the passenger seat, and let Jesus take control of the vehicle. I still get a front-row seat, but now my life is led by the One who is only good and always good, who is for me and not against me, and who can cleanse me in ways I can never cleanse myself.
Troy Burns