Last night as I dreamed I found myself standing in a dark room. I was wearing a wedding dress, and I knew that I was going to be married soon. As I sat there in pleasant contemplation of the blessed event, my Aunt and Mother rushed into the room, bringing with them a large plastic grocery bag. As Holly began to talk in a rapid-fire pace, describing what she was going to do to my hair as she pulled various curling and primping devices out of the plastic bag, I realized that my hair was not yet done. This didn't concern me much, for I knew I still had some time to get ready before I needed to go. And then, suddenly, I realized that I didn't have a ring. So I rushed into the adjoining room, which magically happened to be a ring shop, and started looking through the selection of rings. At this point of the dream my Dad entered the scene, and started loudly exclaiming: asking me what the devil I was doing picking out a ring when I needed to be over here having my hair done, and didn't I know that it was almost time to leave, and why hadn't I gotten everything ready earlier?
As a heightened state of panic started to set in, I realized that as happy as the prospect of getting married was to me, I was not ready. There were still things I needed to do.
I woke up laughing to myself.
And then I realized how loaded the dream really was. Last night I found myself talking with a group of single girls, and it was mentioned that one girl was engaged. The conversation turned to joking and laughing about finding 'Prince Charming' and wondering aloud why it seemed so quick and easy for some to find him and so hard for others. As I've thought about the whole marriage thing, I've realized that I am happy being single, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to get married in the hopefully not-too-distant future. As singles we tend to joke about getting married, and scoff at those who 'went and got married, and what were they thinking?' But secretly, I think we're all a little jealous, because in reality, we're all programed to want to find a partner, a buddy to help us out in life. And we're all just a little sick of the whole dating game, and excited for when it will be over. We'll enjoy the process, and the singleness while it lasts, but I don't think many of us will really lament when it ends and the next stage of life begins.
And then as I thought about it, I realized that Heavenly Father has been telling me something for quite a while, and I'm slowly starting to get it. He has some things he wants me to do, that I need to do while I'm single. And he isn't going to help me find my "Prince" until after I do them. I have to get ready, not just wait for him to turn up. So often I've viewed the whole dating and marriage thing as a waiting game. You know, Snow White taught us to sit on the wishing-well and sing "Someday my Prince will come..." but that just isn't how it works. Well, maybe for some people, but not for me. I can almost hear Father telling me, "Look, once you get this stuff done that I have for you, once you've learned these things I need you to learn, only then will all the pieces fall into place. I've got the plan. I know what's supposed to go down, but it's up to you to get ready and complete the things I've got for you, and then once you've finished up your chores then I'll help you move to the next part of life."
It's been interesting to think about. And obviously it's been more on my mind than I even realized, because it's started showing up in my dreams. Haha.
Isn't it great to know that God is in control?
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