by David Scott Robertson
"While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table" (Matthew 26:6-7).
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Last Christmas some good friends of mine gave me a bottle of men's cologne as a gift. Giving gifts at Christmas and cologne to men are rather commonplace and don't draw much attention. However, there's more to this story.
This particular four-ounce bottle of cologne that my friends gave me was extremely rare, very expensive, and only through much research, calls, and effort, were they able to obtain it from an obscure location in Florida. Usually an advanced search of the Internet at Google.com will turn up about anything you're looking for. Not so with this Christmas gift. Even the Internet was uncharacteristically useless on this quest. Nevertheless, through determination my friends made it happen. All that to say that this small bottle of great smelling men's cologne is pretty special to me. It's the kind of item that you reserve for special occasions only.
It's sort of like a woman buying a beautiful dress to be Maid-of-Honor at a girlfriend's wedding. Or renting a limo to drive the newlyweds from the church to their reception. Or whispering to the waiter at the fine restaurant that you're there to celebrate a family member's birthday. Graduations, weddings, funerals, job interviews, awards banquets, appearing on television, and the like all fall into the category of "special occasions" that warrant special preparation, wouldn't you agree?
Well, I started out wearing my cologne only to church on Sundays. And even then, I limited it to one squirt only! After all, I reasoned, I have to ration it and make it last as long as possible, right? I got to thinking, at this rate, this four-ounce bottle should last for years!
I know this sounds silly, but this rare gift also got me to thinking about what constitutes a "special occasion." I actually pondered in my heart the question of how many men and women die every year with unused bottles of cologne and perfume in their cabinets back home? How many of us put off doing something, saying something, going somewhere…waiting for "just the right moment" - a moment that strangely, sadly, too often never comes.
For example, take the man who is so intent on waiting for the right moment that he never actually gets around to proposing to the love of his life. Or the parent who waits for a special achievement to tell his daughter he's proud of her. Or the Christian who never shares her faith with her co-worker because she never feels the timing is quite right.
As I processed such thoughts, I wondered if I were to suddenly and unexpectedly be taken out of the picture, who would get the rest of my bottle of cologne? More than likely someone who doesn't know the story or the value of what they hold in their hand.
So, these days I'm celebrating a lot of special occasions.
- My daughter's birthday came up and we took her out to dinner. Squirt.
- I had breakfast with my one-and-only mother the other day. Squirt.
- I scurried off to my weekly staff meeting at church. Squirt.
- I taught a class of new Christians last week. Squirt.
- I ran down to Wal-Mart the other day to pick up oil change supplies. Squirt.
As I write this, I'm getting ready to go to work. There's nothing particularly special going on today. Today, my friends, I'm going for two squirts!
What about you? Anything you've been putting off waiting for just the right moment - a special occasion - before you allow yourself to do it, say it, or experience it? You can avoid a disease worse than cancer called REGRET by simply making up your mind to live this day - no, I take that back, live EVERY DAY - as if it were what it actually is - a special occasion. Fact is, every day is a grace gift from God. And any gift from God is pretty special.
DSR
3/7/05