Pickles and Ice Cream

June 2008

I first noticed the boutique last year while running errands in North Dallas. The large sign with scripty font and a funny name drew my immediate attention: “Pickles and Ice Cream.”  Curiosity drew me into the store. I discovered an upscale maternity boutique with cute clothes and accessories to make growing bellies feel beautiful. Now, I understood but laughed at the name given to this little store. I knew that women’s tastes changed during pregnancy but pickles and ice cream? You’ve got to be kidding me.

I’m 25 weeks pregnant with a surprise baby that God has given us. He or she will make their appearance in early October. This pregnancy has been different for my family in so many ways, not the least of which is the way it has affected my taste buds. The other day around 5 pm, I wanted an  Oreo Blizzard from Sonic. I drove up to the fast food chain and ordered the largest one they had with, "extra whipped cream and extra oreo cookies please!" I ate it all without any guilt and then made my way home.

Within two hours, I had another craving. I wanted pickles. I don't normally 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.

Feeling satisfied, I lie in my bed to rest. That's when the oddity of my culinary tastes really hit me. The cute boutique came to mind and I laughed out loud. I never thought my tastes could be affected so drastically. Pickles and ice cream ... within two hours of each other ... Urghhh! That's disgusting. Normally, I'd never want a menu like that, but the baby growing inside had changed and distorted my likes and dislikes into something foreign. My palate had been completely altered and transformed. It seems that this is what happens when new life takes up residence in you. You just start becoming different ... inside and out.

I'm praying that the Spirit of the Living God will be so full in you that you'll find your tastes changing. As we yield to the Spirit’s work in us, may we find ourselves with a foreign set of taste buds that are demanding delights that the world wouldn’t take a second look at. My hope is that we won't be the women we have always been, but will discover that things we used to like, we don't anymore, and things we didn't like are what we desire more than anything.

As the influence of God's Spirit grows in me and in you, I want the world to see the oddity of 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. Sister, here’s to pickles and ice cream.