Pickles and Ice Cream
March 2012
I first noticed the boutique in 2008 while out running errands one day. The large sign with scripty font and a funny name drew my immediate attention: “Pickles and Ice Cream”. Curiosity lured me inside and I discovered an upscale maternity boutique with cute clothes and accessories to make growing bellies feel beautiful.
Oh! Now I get it!
Maternity.
Pregnant women.
Pickles and Ice cream.
I laughed at the name of this little store. I got it but it seemed a bit extreme. Certainly pregnancy doesn’t change a woman’s tastes this much. Does it?
No way…
Then I got pregnant with our third child.
God had given Jerry and I a surprise baby who we’d later name Jude. This pregnancy had been different from my other two in so many ways, not the least of which was the affect it was having on my taste buds. An Oreo Blizzard from Sonic had become a staple in my diet (contributing to my 50lb weight gain). I’d drive up to the fast food chain and order the largest one they had with, “extra whipped cream and extra Oreo cookies, please!” I’d sit in the parking lot and eat it all without any guilt, glad that my belly could stick out without any concern on my part.
One day, after indulging in the decadent dessert, I had another craving- pickles. I never thought it could happen but it happened to me. Not only was this an odd combination but under usual circumstances I don’t even like pickles. In fact, if I find them hidden in the layers of a hamburger or sandwich I deliberately pull them off. But at that moment, all I could think about was sinking my teeth into a cool, crisp Vlasic pickle. My sweet husband went to the store at 7 pm to bring me home a jar full.
I ate two immediately.
Odd what happens when new life is growing inside of you. Startling how different you become inside and out.
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I’m praying that the Spirit of the Living God will be so full in you that you’ll find your tastes changing. As you yield to the Spirit’s work in you may you find yourself fitted with a foreign set of taste buds that are demanding delights that the world wouldn’t take a second look at. May you find that some of the things you used to like, you don’t desire anymore and other things you would’ve never had a taste for become your insatiable desire.
As the influence of God’s spirit grows in me and in you, the world should see what we desire and how we want to live and think that we are strange…strange enough for them to come and ask us what’s going on. Then, we can give them a little taste of what they’ve been missing.
So here’s to being different and being transformed.
Here’s to new life and new appetites.
Here’s to pickles and ice cream.
