The Aroma of Memories

I've read a lot of blogs lately about a variety of memory retrievers. By that I mean, music, sounds, etc. A lot of things bring back memories. One of the strongest senses that brings back memories is the sense of smell. I smell a laminating machine and I go back to my youth when I worked at Yarnell's Ice Cream in Searcy, Arkansas. We packaged the half gallons of ice cream in heavy plastic warmed by heaters that eventually would shrink wrap the ice cream containers.
Smell the tar of a parking lot and I go back to Silver Dollar City. There's a kind of sick smell that I smell occassionally that reminds me of my hotel room in Vladivostok, Russia. The smell of cigarette smoke reminds me of football games in the fall in Arkansas.
This time of year, the smell of sweets baking make me think of holidays in my early years. The aroma of a baking ham, the wonderful smell of rolls cooking, the sweetness of the melted marshmallows on the sweet potatoes, all bring back good memories.
But I wonder what smells took Jesus back in His memory. Was it the smell of cow manure? The musty smell of a barn with hay? Was it the wild smell of a sheep's wool? No wonder the Magi brought frankincense and myrrh. If it had been me, I would have helped God a little bit. If He was going to bring the Savior of the world, the Messiah, I think I would have staged a better event. Let's bring out the magazine ads, let's call in the reporter's from the Bethlehem Press, or even the Jerusalem Times. After all, this is big. Let's get some video of the star.
It wasn't about the event. It wasn't about the wise men. It wasn't about the star. It was about simple things in simple ways, bringing enormous news. Amazing, isn't it? So I wonder, what did Jesus think about when He smelled the dung?
What are your memorable smells? Have a great day! JW