Other girls, who made this connection long ago, will no doubt shake their heads and smile at my naiveté . But although I've always wanted to be a wife and a mother and although I've always dreamed and talked about My Future Husband (it's a term of endearment in my vocabulary, reserved for One Special Guy!), I've never thought of myself as anyone's future wife.
And then, one day recently, it suddenly hit me:
If God's plan for my life includes marriage, then there's a guy somewhere in the world who is My Future Husband. A real guy. And I'm his future wife. And that's scary! I have no idea who he is or where in the world he is. Right now, that doesn't matter. But the indisputable fact remains that if God's plan for my life includes marriage, I am some guy's future wife ... I am My Future Husband's future wife ... I am his future wife.
The next logical thought was:
What am I doing to get ready for being some guy's future wife ... for being My Future Husband's future wife? One day, My Future Husband will (God willing) be the most important and wonderful 'HE' in my life and heart. What am I doing to get ready for being his wife? The answer was that apart from saving my first kiss for him, I'm not doing much to get ready. Oh.
I happen to think that saving my first kiss for My Future Husband is important (don't get me wrong!), but I think there's more I could – and should! – be doing to get ready. As the years roll by and no young man comes calling (roses and diamond ring at the ready) it's easy to get cynical ... to wonder if any guy is ever going to be 'seriously' interested in quiet little me ... or if My Future Husband has already come and gone and I missed him ... or if God is calling me to singleness.
I don't have a Hope Chest, because for as long as I'm unmarried there is a possibility that God is calling me to singleness. I don't want to reach old age with a Hope Chest full of things that I packed away for when I was a bride ... and never unpacked again, because I never was a bride. I'm waiting until I'm courting or engaged and then I'll buy and fill a Hope Chest. And I'll love every moment of it!
But a Hope Chest is a comparatively easy thing to fill in a few months or years. I can purchase china and embroider pillowcases in that time. A heart and character worthy of My Future Husband and a store of love all ready and waiting for him ... those things can't be purchased and are impossible to create in a few months.
So I've been thinking about some ways in which I can get ready for being his wife. It's so easy to get blasé about being a wife and a mother. For those of us who have already put in over twenty years of daughter-hood, housework and homemaking, sister-hood ... we assume that getting married and entering wife-hood will be quite easy and great fun. (I know ... I've thought this for a long time now!)
And yet ... imagine the awesome privilege and responsibility that will be mine when some guy – My Future Husband – kneels down and asks me to marry him. It will be a privilege to love and encourage him. It will be a responsibility to never make him sorry he asked me to be his wife.
I want to be ready (or as ready as possible!) for that moment ... I want to have a heart and character worthy of him ... I want to have a store of love all ready for him. I want him to know that I saved my first kiss for him. I want him to know that I thought of him and prayed for him before I knew who he was or where in the world he was. I want him to know that I cared enough about him and about being his wife, that I got ready for him and his love.
So until the day when My Future Husband looks into my eyes and tells me he loves me, I'm praying for him and waiting for him; I'm thinking of him and dreaming of being his wife; I'm enjoying today, but looking forward to tomorrow ... with him. Forever. Because although I don't know who he is or where in the world he is, I know that if God's plan for my life includes marriage, My Future Husband is out there somewhere. I know that God will bring us together in His perfect timing. I want to be ready for him. Because his is My Future Husband. And me?
I'm his future wife!
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11 comments:
Don't worry, I discovered that little revelation not too long ago as well:o)... you're not alone in just figuring it out!
I'm soooooo glad I'm not alone! :-D
:-) This is striking home once again, particularly as it goes along with what I've been reading in Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye?
One thing that I've been telling myself (sometimes I need to give myself a good talking to, you know!) is there are things I can be doing now, even despite living at home, that are mature and adult-like and would be required if I were living outside my parents' house.
Like...a good budget... :-P And other stuff.
But most importantly, my spiritual walk with God.
*hugs* Praise God we're not alone on this journey!
Absolutely, I think my spiritual life with God comes out tops as the most important and 'adult' thing I can invest in!
That's soooooo frustrating, though ... I hate idea that being unmarried is somehow NOT being an adult! As if ... ! :-D Anyway ... I just got my first-ever cell 'phone (boy, is there a story behind that!) and I somehow feel that's an 'adult' thing to do! :-P
But hang on in there ... none of us are alone and it's great to be able to cheer and encourage each other! :->
Great post!!! Very thought provoking.
Thanks, Kate!
Beautiful... thank you for this. :)
Jen, you're welcome! :->
It is certainly interesting for me to read this article. Thank author for it. I like such topics and anything connected to this matter. I definitely want to read more soon.
I'm so glad you like this ... ! Be blessed!
I love this article! It's great to know that there are good Christian girls in this world who are waiting. I'm 16 and I'm also saving my first kiss for my future husband. I admit that it's hard to do but I know that all the waiting will be worth it :) Thank you for writing such a great article!
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