At the Peak of Dawn

Old Ladies

During church, Abel’s mind kept wandering towards his future wife. Where is she? What's her name? What is she like? What is she doing right now? What if she prayed for him daily like he did for her? Questions as such plagued his mind as he struggled to focus on Pastor Johnson’s sermon about living the Christian life. And then something the pastor said caught his attention.

“If you’re single it is very likely that you’ve met your future spouse or have at least seen her by now.”

That took Abel by surprise. Why would Pastor Johnson say something like that in his sermon?

“If you live and act the way you want your future spouse to, you just might find them faster,” the Pastor continued. “If you want your future spouse to be kind, loving, trusting, faithful, honest, then you have to be all those things as well.”

This put Abel into deep thought. Had he met her already? Had he ever seen her before? He wouldn’t know until he found and married her. What about his life? Had he been living a life that was appealing to her? He wanted a faithful wife, one who trusted and loved him. He carefully scrutinized his life. By God’s grace he had lived a life pleasing to Him, so wouldn’t that be pleasing to her as well? He sure hoped so! He cringed at the thought that anything he had done or said would have made her not want to get to know him. That is, of course, if he had met or seen her.

“Hey, man, get up. It’s time for the closing song,” his friend, Joseph said, nudging him. Abel slightly shook his head as he slowly rose to his feet and joined the singing congregation.

After the benediction, Abel started to head out, but Joseph stopped him on his way.

“Hey, Teresa and I were gonna go do something later with her sister. You wanna come?”

“I’d like to, but I’ve been really tired lately. The past couple of weeks have been hectic with University Days and other programming going on, and I kinda just wanted a weekend to slow down a bit. Thanks for the invite though.”

“No problem. See you around,” Joseph replied, turning away.

“Yeah, see you,” said Abel as he started for the door. But he was stopped again by a couple of elderly ladies.

“Young man, we just wanted to tell you how much we appreciated the song service you lead out last night at Vespers,” gushed one in a flowery hat.

“Oh, praise God.”

“Amen,” exclaimed the other in a pink dress. “It is good to hear young people stepping up and leading out in church. You know, I always say that our young people are the future of the church,” she said addressing the other lady.

“And such a handsome man. Sonny, are you married?” Miss Flower Hat blurted earnestly.

“Uh,” stammered Abel, “no, ma’am, I’m not.”

“Engaged?” pegged Miss Pink Dress.

“Wrong again, Miss.” Abel said awkwardly.

“Dating?” pushed Miss Flower Hat.

“Um, not at the moment.” Abel rubbed the back of his head.

“But there is a young lady you’re talking to, right?” Miss Pink Dress questioned.

“No, there really isn’t,” Abel blushed embarrassed.

“That’s a shame,” Miss Flower Hat commented. “Such good looks shouldn’t be wasted. Don’t worry, Sonny, I’ll tell my granddaughter to give you a call. She should be about your age.”

“Oh, I was going to do the same thing,” said Miss Pink Dress disappointed. “Oh, well. I think she has a boyfriend anyway.”

The two older ladies, distracted by talking about their grandchildren, turned and walked away leaving Abel to stand alone very uncomfortable. With a shake of his head, he started for the door for the third time. But this time, no one stopped him.