Before I EVEN begin this post—please for the love of all that is inspirational—watch this movie trailer…   The Legend of Tarzan (2016) (NOT the cartoon version)

“A normal man can do the impossible to save the woman he loves. My husband is no normal man.”

O.M.G we love it!

So——after seeing this movie, I dreamed a dream about Tarzan. (Well, it was actually a gym owner named ‘Cameron’ but he looked exactly like Tarzan, and had his demeanor too.)  It was hard not to do.

Tarzan embodies every trait known to woman of the ideal husband. He is tall, dark, handsome, he doesn’t talk all the time, he’s quite “thug” without ever appearing uneducated. He thinks about what he is about to say, he loves Jane with abandon, and if something were ever to threaten her—there would be hell.to.pay. because nothing can stand in his way—seemingly, not even death. He is in touch with the Earth and the nature around him, he is kind to animals, and he wants a family. He stands up against what is wrong, and instead of blathering on about how wrong it is; you turn around and the man is already gone—putting his righteous indignation into action! Tarzan is a feeler, and a thinker, and a do-er.

He’s Tarzan. 

My husband was not happy with me; even though he had given me permission to dream about Tarzan—it was only if it was his head on Tarzan’s body—I told him “I’d try, but my unconscious mind does it’s own bidding.”

What do I say? Oops!?

Anyway— the focus of this post is not Tarzan—it’s Jane.

And it’s us.

Here is what I want to know:

“Why do we all love Jane so much?” 

Let’s face it, it’s not just Tarzan who ogles her and falls all over himself—we do too!

He thinks she is beautiful, check. (So do we.)

He thinks she is smart, check. (Us too!)

He finds her charming, yep. (Uh-huh, Again.)

He sees her as adventurous, check.

He sees her as sexually alluring. (Gawsh, yes.)

He sees that other men admire her. (Which is true.)

Children love her, and the African village that raised her sees her as one of their own.  (Even though she never once dons something made of leather.)

And Tarzan would seemingly move heaven and earth to bring her home, to him, safely…

They are the total package. Without Jane, Tarzan is just an ape man with a nice body. We would never know his civilized side. And he would lose our interest pretty quickly. (At least I think he would…after a time. 😉 )

It is the love he holds for Jane that makes Tarzan so irritably attractive—As well as, OFF LIMITS.  He belongs to her, and she to him.  

^^I mean, c’mon, we would never in a million years interfere with THAT!

But my point remains—love transforms a beast into the man of your dreams.  And it’s not a blind love—it’s not a transformation that takes place in the mind of Jane alone, or at all—it’s a real, honest-to-god, transformation in the person of Tarzan. Her love has tamed the savage beast—or at least given it a purpose.

Love made him a real man. It’s Jane’s love that has soothed the raging animal within.  And we love THAT.  We want OUR love to be so transformational that “Tarzan” (or any savage of a man) would choose to return our love, and that that love would somehow, unintentionally, but whole-heartedly soothe the rough-edged beast and he would be different, changed by the power of love between us! Better. More complete. Whole.

And—NOT because we tried to make it happen that way!! But because there was no other way it could have ended up–we met, and the rest is history!!

We all have these desires as women—to take it from the book “Captivating” by Stasi & John Eldridge:

We all want to be the beauty—to have a beauty to unveil, and to be cast in an irreplaceable role, to be part of an adventure of great importance, and to be romanced along the whole journey.

Why?  Because we bear the image of God, both of us, man and woman. Both different, but both fully and magnificently orchestrated to demonstrate different aspects of God’s divine character to this world. Both of us.

And we, as women, desire those things because they’re right for us to desire. They are a direct reflection, nay, a result of the imprint of the almighty—it’s the residual effect of HIS desires for us. He wants to be all of those things for us, and he wants us to be all of those things to him, and he imbeds these desires to draw us unto him.  And if we find a super attractive, godly, hunk who lights our fire along the way—well, thanks God! Don’t mind if I do 😉

With all of that said—let me just make this one simple point.

We have got to stop comparing ourselves to other women. Real or fictional. They are wonderful, yes. But so.are.you.

And me too. So am I! I am a beauty—and I have an irreplaceable role to play in this life—and adventure awaits me. My life is not a movie. But it is mine…and I have given it back to the author of my story so that it can end well. Without all of my over-encumbered meddling.

I leave you with the words of a song—I hope it touches your heart in all it’s hidden places. Let this thought heal your wounded feminine heart.

“There’s a hope that waits up for you in the dark…you should know you’re beautiful just the way you are, and you don’t have to change a thing, the world can change its heart (…) No better you than the you that you are. No better life than the life you’re living…” 

Don’t get me wrong here—-I like this song, it’s catchy, but it in NO WAY speaks to my feminine heart the way that watching The Legend of Tarzan does.

This is why we need adventure—because nothing cuts through the junk this world piles upon our hearts  like a good ol’ adventure.

With Tarzan AND with Jane.

We need Jane.  We want Jane. And the honest to God truth is—God made each one of us to be Jane in our own way! Let’s begin to live life, as Jane. It’s how we were meant to live.

So, let’s do this!!