Day 8 of the “Wild Kids, Wild God – 31 Days looking at God’s Heart” Series.
Smell is maybe the most underrated of our 5 senses. It’ not flashy like *sight* or grabby like *touch*, but stick my nose under a box of Lucky Charms and I’ll immediately be transported to a daycare room in 1983.
That’s one Powerful Sense.
God has a sense of smell too; from the sweet aroma of atoning sacrifices in the first half of the bible (animals were our scapegoats back then), to the fragrant incense of the prayers of God’s People–us Kids, in the last half (that is, the new testament, like ‘last will and testament‘).
[Note about Prayer: No rosaries, liturgies or formulas needed, prayer is simply “talking” to God anywhere, anytime, with 
or without words. Just as you are reading this in your mind, that’s where “prayer” happens, on the inside.]
Since our second son was born and there’s more diaper work going on, I’ve got poop on my mind. The human body is, in my opinion, symbolic and metaphorical in many ways. Poop is no exception. It’s the one substance that we really don’t want to be near. Blood, sweat, tears, spit, pus…but poop? Totally toxic, foul smelling, and even holds something of shame…
We like to get rid of it and move on!
So I’m thinking poop is symbolic of our “sins” (read: mess-ups, failings, very big and very small). We do it, occasionally check it out, wipe and flush (if we are so blessed to live in a country with good sanitation). We can apply this to our shortcomings and screw-ups: we do them, we can reflect–talk to God about it, clean up where possible, and then, eventually, Flush. Move Forward. Don’t carry it around with you! Isn’t it nice God put that part of us on the back and bottom..? Out of sight…behind us..
For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [Jesus]. (2 Corinthians 5:21, Bible)
In my mind this reads: God made Jesus, who knew no sh!# to actually be sh!# for us… 
Jesus was slaughtered, literally– physically and spiritually– because what do you do with that kind of ‘waste’? You Burn It. Every infraction and pain we’ve caused and will cause, each pain afflicted on us, was transferred to Jesus, humanity’s scapegoat. Amazing Love. Amazing Grace.
Next time you’re in the bathroom, remember- there’s a lot of stink in this world and we all contribute daily, but we’ve been forgiven and loved so much that we are now a sweet smelling fragrance to God.
Let’s be careful before pointing out how ‘stinky’ someone else is — All poop stinks.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53: 4-6)
Sidenote: One of God’s Names in the Bible and Torah is “El,” as in El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty). The Hebrew root of this word is actually “Ram” as in a male sheep. See more info on the Blueletterbible.
If you’d like to read more about Forgiveness, check Forgive and Forget–BFF.
If you’d like to understand more about what Jesus did and why, check Wildly Loved, Love Burns Hot.
Want to understand more about God’s Heart? Check: Pearl and Mother of Pearl.
This post is part of the Wild Kids, Wild God – 31 Days looking into God’s Heart series.