Alone, but Not Lonely | Hope Works

Until marriage happens, says Dr. Erica Glenn, being single is not a stumbling block in a Church that espouses marriage but is an opportunity to serve. Each person has a critical work to do, she contends.

Speaking to the single members, a segment that now comprises more than half of the Church, she offered counsel and encouragement.

History is replete with examples of faithful single members who have contributed to the Church in remarkable ways, she said. “It’s an honor to stand beside those of the past.”

For singles, like anyone, a sense of belonging is so important, she continues. Some singles feel lonely, as if they exist only on the outside. It is possible to contribute within rather than standing helplessly or critically on the perimeter. “Our communities are what we make them,” she said.

To those seeking to find their place and purpose in life, she recommends serving in ways that connect with others. For her, it is music, like the time a woman in Eastern Europe, who had so little and had endured so much, thought that the young Erica was privileged and couldn’t understand her life.

Seeing a dusty old piano nearby, Erica began playing music by Chopin. Soon the woman’s furrowed brow eased. From such women, Erica said she learned to choose to find the joy in life instead of focusing on what she lacked in her circumstances.

Whether single or not, each has a work to do, Erica said, that can’t be limited by messages of fear or ignorance.

Hope for a better life works best when we offer it like Christ did. Hope is not something we only get; it is something we give.

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