Isaiah 55:8-9

If there was one thing on which their friends agreed, it was this: Brenda Cowan and Adam Schechter would never get married. Ask them about marriage and they shrugged: “Why bother? It’s a meaningless ritual.”

One night, Brenda and Adam decided to take a stroll. They wandered for hours. At midnight, they meandered onto a deserted boulevard. Across the street, one solitary light beckoned.
“Come on, Adam,” said Brenda. She pulled him toward the golden light, emanating softly from a tiny shop. Illuminated in the store window was a dress so magnificent they both stared at it, transfixed.
“Did you ever see such a beautiful dress?” gasped Brenda. “You know, Brenda,” said Adam, “if you ever wore a dress like that, I’d have to marry you.” At that moment, the shop door swung open. A scrawny old woman, a cigarette dangling from her mouth, impatiently waved them inside. “I understand you’re getting married,” she said. “Come in.”

“Try it on,” said the old woman. Brenda stepped into the dress. It fit as perfectly as the slipper had fit Cinderella’s foot. “So I guess that’s it,” said Adam. “When should we set the date?”

The next morning, Brenda raced to the dress shop. “I want that dress,” she told the two young shop girls.
“Okay,” they said. “But try it on first.” “I don’t need to,” said Brenda. “I was here late last night. The older woman let me in.” “What woman?” The two girls stared at her, amazed. “There’s never anybody here at night.” At that moment, the phone rang. The very woman who had let in Brenda and Adam last night was calling. The conversation that followed was remarkable. It turned out that the old woman, who owned the shop, had not been there in years. She had finished sewing the white dress, and she was so thrilled with her creation that she had felt compelled to rush to her uptown store and display it. Just a few minutes later, Brenda and Adam had strolled by.

Two months later, Brenda and Adam got married. Without a doubt, they were the best-dressed couple getting married that day. Brenda couldn’t help wondering: Without this dress, would we ever have married? One year later, their friends had gathered to admire their newborn baby, a girl whom Brenda and Adam hoped would someday wear the wedding dress, too. “You know,” said a friend, in-between cooing and making faces at their adorable baby, “I still can’t get over the fact that you two got married. You just don’t seem the type.” “We’re not,” said Brenda. “It’s just that we saw this dress…”

Peggy Sarlin

Comment:
Was it mere coincidence that Brenda and Adam were attracted to the golden light in the shop window; to the beautiful wedding dress; and finally to the old woman who waved them inside the shop? Or was it God’s providence all the time, steering them in this direction. You decide? We may think we are the ones making the plans, but events often show us that we only think so, for “God’s ways are not our ways.”

Fr. Hugh Duffy