INTRODUCTION TO LIKE A SWEET FRAGRANCE

Introduction to

Like a Sweet Fragrance

Go do what God made you to do,” said my younger sister Liese to the baby turtles.  

 
With their flippers flapping as fast as they could, over one hundred newly-hatched sea turtles instinctively scurried to the rough, yet beautiful aquamarine water of the Sea of Cortez. As the tide washed ashore, some of the six-week-old turtles were caught and never seen again; others were tossed back on the beach where they appeared momentarily dazed and disoriented before they turned and scrambled once more toward the water, doing what God made them to do.

Their journey wasn’t going to be easy. Predators were in the water, above the water, and all around the water – sharks, fish, seaweed, birds, pollution, and even the weather are detrimental to their journey. Yet off they go with only their little flippers and an instinct to guide them.

“Go do what God made you to do,” encouraged Liese.

She was speaking to the turtles, but God was speaking to me.  

I had flopped myself down on the beach of my life and was waiting for the water to reach me instead of turning around and going where I instinctively knew to go. The perfect conditions didn’t exist, only the perfect timing of God, which is right here, right now, this moment. Today, not tomorrow.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever known that there was something you needed to do, yet you put it off, waiting for that perfect time? Waiting for all obstacles to be removed? Waiting to be plopped down in an ideal scenario instead of making your way to the water?

On vacation with my sisters, I heard God speak to me on that beach as dramatically as only he can do, and I knew it was time. No more waiting for an editor to swoop down and pick me up and send my book to a publisher. No more waiting for retirement from my teaching job where I didn’t have the responsibility of instructing over one hundred students. No more waiting for the right moment where all I did was write. No more waiting. It was time to go to the water.

So today, here I am. Flapping my finger flippers on the keyboard as I make my way once more to a place that isn’t always easy or safe.  A place where strength is needed and where perseverance is part of God’s plan. A place where there are predators to frighten me and seaweed to entangle me and seagulls to swoop down and chase me all over the place. But a place where God is still sovereign and despite what worldly weather is around to discourage me, he is with me every step of the way.

And whether we find ourselves in a dramatic time of decision or a daily time of simply trusting God for the moment, God’s release program begins every day with a tide washing up on the beach where we are, a place where we are to  “trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV).

We may not be as cute to watch as baby sea turtles, but people are watching us, too. And God has his own release program. And as he releases us into the sometimes wild waters of the world, we’re to quit waiting for the perfect worldly scenario and instead follow our perfect God as we go do what he made us to do.

I hope you enjoy my book, but most of all, I hope God is glorified as he leads us in the ultimate victory parade of life where the fragrance of Christ beckons us all to look up and gaze at Him with adoration and excitement and awe just like we were made to do.  

Becky Bader
October 2011