Tumoulin Girl

My Future Goal/Dream/Hope

Sometimes it's hard to feel romantic in summer--namely the days the temperature goes over 50C (112+F) and your sweat is so sticky you're clothes feel like glad wrap on your skin. But something happened last night--a sprinkling of snow rained down on my world and the flowers in my romantic garden perked up their heads.

If there's been one thing I've been looking forward to more than Christmas lately it's the Winter Olympics in January. I love the figure skating. The spinning hair, the fluid motions, the dance on ice. There's just something about skating. I could watch it all day.

I got especially enamored with the sport when I saw the routine performed by Jamie Sale and David Pelletier in the 2002 Winter Olympics. There was a delightfulness about their performance that outshone all of the others. It was as if all the other routines, no matter how perfect, were photos in black and white, and Sale and Pelletier came out in stunning colour.

I hadn't thought much about the couple since then--I'd even managed to forget their names--until late last night while impulsively surfing the net for ice skating information I stumbled across Jamie Sale and David Pelletier's website. I entered the site and was surprised to find out David had proposed to Jamie and they were planning to get married this December. I smiled and kept surfing idlely around their website. I was about to leave when these few lines written by Jamie stopped me short:

~~~

"What are your future goals/dreams/hopes? I want to be a Mom one day. I think this is the most amazing gift. I would also like to be the best wife and make my husband the happiest man ever."

~~~

Did Jamie Sale, the internationally famous figure skater, just say that? I sat, feeling the sweat run down my sides, for a moment. I thought about how it takes guts for a woman to say something like that these days. The modern western world with all it's high ideals doesn't consider motherhood a profession worthy of praise. And they'd certainly be the last to describe it as "the most amazing gift."

I've been surprised myself at the people who, even sub consciously, hold this viewpoint. I was once at my grandparents place sitting around the table with my parents and my grandpa. My Grandpa spun me that ever typical question, "What are your plans for after school, Lydia?"

I told him what I'd begun telling most anybody. I told him I wasn't sure. That I didn't feel that God was telling me to rush off to Uni to sign up for the next course in journalism or even photography. I told him I was trying to rest in the Lord, asking Him to provide the opportunities to learn the skills for the ultimate profession I felt He was leading me to--motherhood.

I didn't pick up my Grandfather's reaction. Sometimes I can be very blind. But a few days later my Dad caught me out when he said, "By the way, Lyd, I wanted to tell you how proud mum and I were of you the other day when you answered Grandpa. You didn't try to mask what you felt God has been telling you, and your answer really shocked him."

I frowned quizzically at my parents, not believing. Why would he have been shocked?

I thought of my Grandpa. He is an amazingly caring, down-to-earth person. He's been a missionary to Africa, a pastor for over twenty years, and one of the best persons I know. He'd never expected Grandma to work; he'd provided for her every one of their fifty years of marriage. When he had asked what I wanted to do, I had told him the utter truth, believing he'd be one of the few people that would understand. It didn't make sense that he should be shocked if I didn't say: "Oh, I want to go to Uni and then get a job."

I wanted to ring up my Grandpa and said, "But Grandpa I only desire to be what my Grandma and Mum are. I only desire to be a mum and support my husband the way Grandma has supported you over all these years."

What is so shocking about this? Why do people give us girls who say this funny looks? Is it really so scandalous of God to lead some of us down this path? Has the concepts of modern thought soaked so deep into our subconscious's that we can't even consider it?

Until the answer becomes completely clear, I guess, I'll keep on as I do. I'll smile when I hear my favourite figure skating pair in the world are getting married. I'll join the Jamie Sales of this world and share unashamedly this one desire God has laid on my heart---"I want to be a mum one day."

posted by Lydia @ 4:22 pm