The odor of...?

There is a story that we have always found funny about a fitful sleeper who seemed to do his best thinking in the middle of the night. Trouble was, he could never remember these blasts of insight when he woke up in the morning. Finally, he put a pad and pen on the table next to his bed and when he had what he thought was an especially brilliant thought one night, he wrote it down. In the light of day, this is what he read: The whole universe is permeated with the odor of turpentine. So much for clarity at 3am.

However, something I read in 2 Corinthians the other day has brought that story to mind and given me pause. The verse says that "we are the odor of Christ." Scholars believe that St. Paul is comparing Christians to the incense that burned in the Temple and that is undoubtedly the original intention, but I've had another thought that uses the metaphor of the joke I just related.

What if the universe really were filled with the odor of turpentine because we who seek to wipe away the faults of others from our mind are using its equivalent on our memories? When unforgiveness attempts to paint pictures of our emotional hurt and inner pain on our psyches, we choose to use spiritual turpentine to clean up the mess.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...

Pass the turpentine, please.