Psalm 119:103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
2 Corinthians 2:15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
Since contracting the COVID-19 virus six days ago, my husband and I have experienced a full gamut of symptoms. My husband, Jeff, is a couple of days behind me on symptoms, so he hasn’t had all of the same symptoms yet, and I pray that he won’t. I started off feeling extremely fatigued, and my neck was aching. It didn’t click at first. I had just completed a very busy work week, and I’ve been having intermittent numbness in my right arm for a couple of months from some disc issues in my neck. I just figured that I had aggravated my neck. But the next day, I developed some mild cold symptoms and a low grade fever. I immediately went for testing, and I began my quarantine period. I’ve had cough, congestion, headaches, severe body aches (like my hips are being pulled out of socket simultaneously), nausea, massive diarrhea, and now loss of taste and smell. I have had every symptoms listed on the symptoms screener except for shortness of breath, vomiting, and rash. I sound as though I am complaining, and I’m sure I have done my share of complaining this week, but I am extremely thankful that our symptoms have been no worse than they have been. We are walking daily and doing incentive spirometry to keep our lungs strong. God has continued to bless us graciously, and although I feel puny, I really shouldn’t complain. I know that I am blessed.
I have to tell you though, of all the strange symptoms I’ve experienced, the complete and total loss of my sense of taste and smell has to be the worst thing. It’s so crazy, y’all. Yesterday for lunch, I ate a delicious bowl of homemade vegetable beef soup and some summer sausage and sharp cheddar cheese. It tasted so good. If I had known that meal would be the last thing I would be able to taste, I would have savored it a bit longer. I bit later, I fixed a cup of coffee. In case you didn’t know, I LOVE coffee, but my coffee didn’t taste that good. I could taste it, but it wasn’t as flavorful as usual. I went to check on my Daddy and visited with him a while. (He too has COVID-19 and could really use your prayers.) I returned home from his house, and just like that, my sense of taste and smell disappeared. I opened a container of minced garlic from the fridge and stuck my nose all the way in the container. Nothing! I sipped some coffee. It tasted like brown water. My husband saw my distress, and he said, “Try a Reese’s.” That’s my favorite candy. I slowly chewed up that candy trying to capture some of the sweet flavor. Nothing. It’s gone. I don’t know for how long, but I still have no sense of taste or smell today. I now impatiently await the return of these two dear lifelong friends.
Until yesterday, I had taken these two senses for granted. I’ve had an excellent sense of smell my entire life. It’s a blessing and a curse. And I love to taste and savor foods. I’ve always been able to taste and smell, and I didn’t appreciate these senses for their true value until now. When something is readily available, we take it for granted, and unfortunately, we tend to do this even with the Word of God and God Himself. When we have heard the Word our whole lives, much of the scripture becomes all too familiar, and when this happens, the scripture loses its sweet flavor. We tend to glaze over scripture that we have read dozens of times, and we don’t let the true meaning speak too us. Or perhaps, with the busyness of life, we leave the Bible on the shelf, and we don’t even crack it open to savor those sweet words. We tend to take for granted that God will be there when we need Him, but we aren’t enjoying that sweet relationship with Him that He intends for us.
There is so much sweetness in the Word of God. “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” If you haven’t tasted that sweetness lately, all you have to do is open the best book ever written, find a quiet corner, and slowly begin to savor the flavor of those precious words that are sweeter than honey. You aren’t tasting the sweetness? Pray and ask God to speak to you through His Word. Ask Him to open your eyes and heart to receive His message, and read those words expectantly. Expect to hear from God as you read and savor the sweet flavor of each word. Once you taste that sweet flavor, you will see just how good our Lord really is. Won’t you taste and see how good He is today? It truly is sweeter than honey!
Inspirations from the Funny Farm 