my right hand

Upon receipt of my luggage, I strolled to the train station of my little town to join my parents in Hannover on this perfect Friday morning. I felt the beauty of nature swirling around me, embracing me; and for a moment, I thought this is a moment when one can enjoy traveling alone. One can enjoy creation without the distraction of conversation. I could hear the birds sing. I could sit on a bench for as long as I wished, soaking in the sun’s warm rays. I could wander along as slowly as I liked. Everything seemed so perfect.

However, this revelry was interrupted by a sudden feeling of emptiness in my right hand. It occurred to me that the only way to improve my euphoria was if I had someone’s hand holding my own. The feeling was overwhelming. Here I was, the spokeswoman to young women all over the world. Did not our brother Paul say, “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am” (1 Corinthians 7:8). How often have I stood on the proverbial soap box and pleaded with all young women to embrace their single status, enjoy it, use this time to develop their love affair with Christ? And yet I was allowing my mind to linger on ... marriage?

At that moment I understood the feeling of oneness between a husband and wife, walking hand in hand, enjoying God’s creation, without the need to say a word ... no entertaining each other, no conversing, just communing ... together. I thought that to have a hand holding my own might make the birdsong sound purer, the grass smell sweeter, and the colors appear more brilliant, and the river run swifter.

This moment of prophetic foresight may have caused anyone else in my position to feel disheartened or lonely. But not me. Instead the feeling of ecstasy remained with me throughout the day, for I thought ... this is what I have to look forward to.