What Does God Smell Like?

David Hammerslag is an author, spiritual director, and member of LifePoint’s Soul Care Team. The following article, “What Does God Smell Like?,” first appeared on David’s blog, From Pop’s Workshop, on August 22, 2025.. Used by permission.

What Does God Smell Like?

We often picture God in our mind’s eye.
Many of us hear God’s voice.
But in a recent prayer time, I wondered, “What does God smell like?”

Even as I write that, it feels like a weird question. Yet science tells us that our sense of smell is uniquely tied to our emotions and memories.(1) So I sat with the question of what does God smell like.

God smells like
     Incense and candles
          Grandfather's pipe
               Grandmother's floral perfume
                    A lonely dirt road
                         The forest after a rain
                              Honest sweat
                                   A new-born baby
                                        An approaching thunderstorm
                                             Freshly fallen snow
                                                  Baking bread
                                             A springtime meadow
                                        A field after the harvest
                                   Freshly cut grass
                              A mountain waterfall
                         Freshly turned loamy soil
                    Autumn Leaves
               Citrus in bloom
          The first thaw of spring
     Shed Blood

What does God smell like to you?

(1) See, for example, https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/connections-between-smell-memory-and-health