Answer

What Should My Covenants & Life Look Like While I’m Single?

You may hope to marry and still wonder what God expects you to be doing before that happens. Is this mostly a time to prepare for a future family, or is there meaningful work for you to do now? That is a great question, and it helps to begin with the covenants you have already made, because those covenants already give your life direction and purpose.

Eternal Truths

Your baptismal covenant matters in your life right now. At the Waters of Mormon, Alma taught people preparing for baptism that they would “bear one another’s burdens,” mourn with those who mourn, comfort those who need comfort, and stand as witnesses of God (Mosiah 18:8–10). He was describing how disciples of Jesus Christ live throughout their lives. You do not have to be married before you can live those promises fully.

Temple covenants can shape the person you are becoming. If you are endowed, you can practice obedience, sacrifice, chastity, consecration, and greater devotion to Jesus Christ today. Those covenants strengthen you now, while also helping you develop qualities that will matter in marriage and parenthood.

God expects you to use what He has given you. The Lord told the Saints not to wait to be “compelled in all things,” but to be “anxiously engaged in a good cause” because “the power is in them” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:26–28). In other words, you can notice something good that needs doing and choose to do it.

What Can Make This Confusing?

Because marriage is a righteous hope, it can be easy to think of everything before it mainly as preparation. Over time, that can leave you concentrating on what has not happened instead of noticing what the Lord has already given you to do.

What Research Shows

A large prospective study of young adults found that a stronger sense of mission was associated with greater life satisfaction, self-esteem, positive emotion, and volunteering. The study does not prove that purpose caused those outcomes, but it does suggest that having meaningful direction matters during young adulthood (study).

Questions to Think About

• Where has God already given me meaningful responsibility?
• Have I been putting off good things I could be doing now?
• Which covenant could shape one of my choices this week?

What You Can Do

Choose one baptismal or temple covenant and let it guide one specific choice this week. You might minister more thoughtfully, help someone who needs you, or use one of your abilities to strengthen your ward or community.

Jesus Christ can help you do real good with the life you have now while continuing to prepare you for blessings still ahead.