The Man I'm Looking For

My Grandma Wood was a woman who would read through the newspaper or a magazine & while reading, relate that which she was reading to family members. It seemed there was no shortage of articles to be distributed amongst everyone. Much to my dismay, I received several of them. Usually, they were things I was uninterested in or took offense to. However, there were a few that I read that I did enjoy & a few that meant something to me. As annoying as it could be for grandma to show up with an envelope in her hand & present it to me (all the while wondering what she had found this time around), I miss getting letters & notes from my grandma. Grandma went home to heaven on February 9, 2005. I definitely possess a lot of my grandma in me. My love for writing, came from her. I think of her often. As I've watched many of my cousin's marry & have children, I think of the fact that my grandma will never see me walk down the aisle. I know that she & my grandpa not only prayed for all of their grandchildren regularly but they prayed that God would send us Godly spouses too. Though that time has come for my cousin's, the time has not come for me yet. Before her death, my grandma had copied a poem out of one of her books by Ruth Bell Graham & she gave it to me. From the day I received it, it has stayed on my mirror in my bedroom. I think that the poem not only describes what I believe my grandma probably prayed for me but it also, in many ways, is my heart on the matter. And so it goes...

Dear God, I prayed all unafraid
(as we're inclined to do),
I do not need a handsome man
but let him be like You;
I do not need one big and strong
nor yet so very tall,
nor need he be some genius,
or wealthy, Lord, at all;
but let his head be high, dear God,
and let his eye be clear,
his shoulders straight, whate'er his state,
whate'er his earthly sphere;
and let his face have character,
a ruggedness of soul,
and let his whoe life show, dear God,
a singleness of goal;
then when he comes
(as he will come)
with quiet eyes aglow,
I'll understand that he's the man
I prayed for long ago.