“You are my portion, O Lord; I have said that I would keep Your words”
(Psalm 119:57).
APPROXIMATELY after the age of thirty, single women face challenges that younger women don’t have. Culture in most Latin countries suggests that, by the time the third decade of life is reached, every woman should already be in a serious loving relationship, thinking about marriage. lf this doesn’t happen, in most cases, it’s believed that something is wrong with that young woman, and social pressure intensifies. Sometimes this pressure comes from parents themselves; also from friends and other family members who, jokingly, but with serious intentions, insistently ask the lady when there will be a wedding. This is when a single woman knows that they begin to classify and label her as a «spinster.»
The term «spinster» is supposed to refer to a woman who doesn’t take care of herself, who’s bored and frustrated with love relationships, who has a cat or a dog, and who develops a sour disposition for the bitterness of not having «fished a husband.» These obviously are unfair prejudices that reflect a negative vision of reality.
A single woman is simply a single woman. It doesn’t need augmentatives or diminutives. Single is plain and simple the woman who has not married, and there is no established age to stop being single. Marriage comes into the life of a man and a woman simply when it comes. This can happen at the age of twenty, thirty, forty, or later, or never. What’s the point of pigeonhole these women? Why put labels that are actually obstacles that limit personal development? What’s more, labels and social pressures can lead a woman to make hasty decisions that sooner or later might lead to failure.
It would be good for young women’s mentors not to measure their success in terms of marital status. They should encourage them to be more concerned about finding God’s purposes for their lives than finding a man to marry.
Dear your lady, being single isn’t a problem. If you have reached certain age, don’t allow anyone to label or pressure you. Enjoy your friendships, be prepared to be productive and, above all, use your time to develop a companionship with Christ.
God knows what life holds for you and it will be better than you can imagine.