It is probably no coincidence that I first heard that presidential candidate John McCain chose Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate while I was at the zoo, surrounded by 7 grandbabies, doting over the newest one who was only a few days old. Alexander was so small that afternoon, too tiny to enjoy the elephants or to climb on the monkey bars. He was safely cuddled by his mama, nursing and oblivious to the irony of my moment.

I have to admit that my first response to the announcement was “Oh, her children are still so young!” And it is true. Sarah’s youngest is only a few months old, a nursing infant she sometimes takes to the office with her, wrapped tightly to her breast as she multi tasks through the day. His Down’s syndrome guarantees that he will need extra attention in the days to come, as will the Palin’s oldest daughter, herself a soon-to-be teenage mom. At the same time, the naming of an evangelical Christian who is unashamedly pro-life being chosen to run with McCain was an answer to prayer.

I have tried to sort through my own feelings and responses to all of this. As a full time homemaker and mom, I naturally have my own prejudices. I could not do what Sarah has done, working full time and raising a large family. I have way too much mom guilt to pull it off. I can remember doing some substitute teaching a couple days a week while my pre-schoolers spent the day with grandparents and I look back on those days with some regret, so I know myself too well to think I could ever do even what Sarah has already done.

But I am not the standard of measure for Sarah Palin, nor are any of the other moms I know.

Sarah is a professing Christian, a sister in Christ, who believes God has called her to this place, this time in history. I do not see a woman who has sought out the role of vice-president. While other Christians, all men and fathers, Mike Huckabee, Alan Keyes, and Ron Paul, to name a few, have spent millions of dollars and sacrificed time with their families to attempt to get into the oval office, Sarah has been hand-selected and brought out of obscurity. (I had never heard of her before last Friday. Had you?) She has been given an opportunity to speak to the most crucial issue of the day, abortion, in ways no man can credibly do, because she has already spoken with her life. While 80 to 90% of women faced with carrying a Down’s syndrome child choose abortion, Sarah and her husband joyfully welcomed their son into their lives. And while many parents, even professing pro-life Christian parents, drive their daughters to the abortion clinic to save face or to “give their daughters a second chance at life,” the Palins have committed themselves to supporting their daughter, obviously having shown her, by their own actions, that human life is precious and worthy of protecting.

So, I am committed to not only voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin in what, prior to Sarah’s choosing, looked like a dismal election year. I believe that Sarah Palin has been called, as Esther was, “for such a time as this.” I have long thought that pro-life rhetoric has ignored the fact that abortion is bad for women, too, not just babies and that by not caring about the needs of women in crisis pregnancies but only talking about the babies, as some homeschooling leaders have demonstrated, we are missing one of the greatest opportunities we have of covenantally reaching out to families.

Sarah’s membership in Feminists for Life tells me that she understands that message and is willing to proclaim it far and wide, as should be done. Those who condemn Sarah for her involvement in this fine pro-life group either don’t understand their mission or can’t get past the fact that that mission has its roots in the hard work of women reformers who not only saw abortion as an evil perpetrated against women but as part of the whole agenda that included the injustices of slavery, alcohol and spousal abuse by fathers and husbands, the forced relocation of Native Americans, and women being denied the right to vote.

I also believe that, as Deborah, she is also a mother who has been chosen to bring light to where there was previously darkness. I can support her with every confidence because I believe that, while the calling of motherhood is to be highly revered, it is not the only calling that God places on the lives of women, any more so than the calling of fatherhood is the only calling given to men. I know that, as with all believers, there is only one purpose in life, that of glorifying God, and that Sarah Palin has already done that.

But, herein lies the one thing that really bothers me about all the discussion on Sarah Palin within the homeschooling circles, whether it is on blogs, in support groups, or in the endless pontifications of the self-appointed homeschooling leadership. Sarah Palin is being held to standards that are not required in Scripture, are not the same standards required of their favorite “older women,” and that many women within this same homeschooling leadership will not even follow themselves.

Jennie Chancey, co-author of the book Passionate Housewives, Desperate for God along with Stacy McDonald, has ridiculously referred to Sarah as “McCain’s helpmeet” and has waxed eloquent that women who work outside the home are sinning by “blaspheming God’s name.” But how is Sarah any different than Jennie who has, as a mom, traveled to Hollywood to provide her expertise on costume design or has traveled, along with Stacy, to promote their book? Does that make them blasphemers or “helpmeets’” to Doug Phillips since their book sales obviously help to build his kingdom? (Consistency on his part would require all his authors to be men and would never condone any book published by Vision Forum to be promoted by women who find their feet not abiding in their own homes in order to do so. In fact, consistency would also require everyone who sells his book, even as phone operators, to go back to their homes as well. )

And what of the other feminine icons they so readily embrace, women like Phyllis Schaftly who remarkably appears in the Monstrous Regiment of Women film blasting feminism all the while having lived out a more feminist lifestyle than even Sarah Palin? Or what about their other favored role model, Elisabeth Elliott who endangered the life of her young daughter to preach the Gospel on the mission field and who has spent decades preaching in pulpits across America? Their claims that Sarah isn’t a positive role model for daughters makes no sense unless they are willing to also hold Schaftly, Elliott, and even themselves to these same standards.

I will be watching to learn more about Sarah Palin and I will be listening to hear if she understands the role of government in the lives of real people like me. My hunch is that she does. And I will sit back and munch some popcorn and see what the self-proclaimed protectors of motherhood do with their own. Perhaps they will clean out their own closets. My hunch is that they won’t.