My oldest daughter, Katie Lea, graduates from ACU this Saturday. I'm so proud of both of my daughters! They are beautiful, young women.I have a memory of a time during Katie Lea's sophomore year at ACU. Susan and I were still living in Atlanta, and we really missed Katie Lea.
Katie Lea has been good about keeping in touch… calling us at least every other day. She usually called when she was on her way to chapel, or in the afternoon after her classes were over. She'd catch us up on what she'd been doing at school… and we'd tell her what's been happening in Atlanta.
Every now and then Katie Lea would ask that we send her something she needed. Sometimes it would be a book, or vitamins, or a dress, or a picture. One time, though, she asked for something a little different. "Dad," she said, "would you please mail me one of your shirts."
I asked her why she wanted one of my shirts… and Katie Lea replied that it wasn't to wear, it was to smell. She missed her daddy's smell. And she wanted one of my shirts that smelled like me—so she could have it to smell while she was a thousand miles away from me.
Now you may be reading this and thinking, "That's weird." But I thought it was a pretty cool request. My daughter missed me and wanted to be reminded of me… and a shirt that smelled like me would help her do that. And you better believe I got a shirt picked out and mailed to Katie Lea… and since I'd worn it (and yes, I do wash my shirts) I counted on it smelling like me.
And I remember thinking that when she'd really be missing me, Katie Lea would put that shirt on—and get wrapped up in it and the way it smelled. And I could picture someone at school asking her, "Why are you wearing that shirt?" And she'd say, "Because it gives off the scent of my daddy."
Katie Lea reminded me that I want to smell like my Father. I want other people to smell His scent through me… and I want that scent to remind them of their Father, too, and His great love for them. And I want my Father's scent on me to drift back to His nostrils.
