Pine Trees & Butterscotch

My first year in Colorado a friend came to visit and we went hiking near where I lived at the time in Colorado Springs. Mind you, this is my friend who hiked the Appalachian Trail, the Colorado Trail, has been to Antarctica…you could say she is adventurous! Plus, I didn’t need to worry that the altitude would bother her. We chose a trail that wound us across a variety of terrains: the forest, across the side of a mountain, and through an unexpected aspen grove. It was supposed to have seven “bridges” crossing streams, but we lost count. Somewhere along the way she had me stop and put my nose up against a tree – specifically a ponderosa pine. I looked at her and asked why.

“Just smell,” she said.

I stepped in closer to the tree, put my nose right up against the bark where she had pointed, and breathed in deep.

Butterscotch!

The most amazing smell, right there, between the sections of bark. I could hardly believe it!

She just laughed – you could tell she got a kick out of sharing it with me. To this day, I have people I hike with do the same thing. In the years I have been here, I have since learned that the smell is stronger in the spring or after a rain, more noticeable in the caramel colored sections, and starts fading in the fall. It makes sense of course – it’s the sap.

(Never mind that I also found I was allergic to pine a few years after I moved here. It’s worth the stuffy nose, believe me.)

This week I am house sitting for a friend in what you might say is a mountain town. Today as I was on a bike ride on a less-travelled road, headed home from the tiny downtown, I couldn’t help but notice the sweetness in the air from time to time. Sure enough, they were ponderosa pines! Then, after a stretch of no trees, I smelled the sweet scent again – before I saw the trees. As I came closer I could see that they were ponderosas all right – just bigger – and older trees.

The fact that I could smell these trees from farther away wasn’t lost on me. It reminds me of what Jeremiah said, talking about trees that are rooted deep; they don’t suffer from draught and keep bearing green leaves and fruit (Jeremiah 17:8). For a pine tree, the smell doesn’t diminish with age or size- indeed it’s stronger.

I have a feeling that Jesus could make an analogy here, and I know his would be so much better than mine, so forgive me for my feeble attempt.. but the world tends to forget the wisdom and lessons to be learned from the older generation. I wonder if, for those who have walked with Jesus, if their beauty and trust in him is like the sweetness of the pine trees you can tell from a long way off?

I’ve thought a lot lately about the language Paul uses in second Corinthians too, where he talks about people who follow Jesus being like a fragrance, a sweet aroma, to God and to the world. Now I realize this is not always the case, and it seems like in many ways the church (big C) has a lot of repair work to do. She doesn’t always represent the best of Jesus and his ways.

But when we do – I imagine it must be like riding a bike or walking through a grove of these luscious, butterscotch-smelling pine trees. Absolutely delicious and beautiful and life giving all at the same time.

Maybe this is a new way to think of being “more like Jesus”. Is the aroma of your life one that is beautiful and inviting to those around you?

I know at some point this analogy fails, and I certainly am not dismissing newfound faith or struggling faith – indeed scripture tells a story that even the smallest bit of faith is acceptable to God, a sweet aroma, in this analogy. But I hope it can encourage you.. the longer you walk, the life-long walk, no matter how full of questions or how much you falter…. just keeps getting sweeter.

If you’re ever in Colorado, or any other state where ponderosa pines grow, I dare you to walk up – without explanation – and put your nose up against a tree and take a nice big whiff. Let them wonder why you walk away with a smile on your face. Let it be a breath that reminds you of the sweetness of the One who made you!

Blessings, my friends!