As a single Latter-day Saint woman approached her 31st birthday she made a simple vow: After that date she would leave her singles ward and move her Church records to the residential ward in the boundaries of which she lived.

She wanted to be obedient to the counsel of her local priesthood leaders and prayed the Lord would bless her for what she believed would be a large sacrifice. She worried that the things she wanted most but did not have — a husband and children — would set her apart from the many families in the ward. An even greater concern was that leaving her singles ward would decrease her chance of marriage.

Today, single adults comprise more than one-third of the total adult Church membership. For the United States and Canada the figure is 38 percent.

"Their numbers are so great," President Gordon B. Hinckley said back in 1989 of this "single demographic" in the Church, "that we cannot disregard them" (Regional Representatives Seminar, March 31,1989).

"Somehow we have put a badge on this group," he said in that address. "It reads 'Singles.' I do not know what else to call them, but I wish there were some other term. These are individuals, men and women, sons and daughters of God, not a mass of 'look-alikes' or 'do-alikes.' The fact that they do not happen to be married does not make them essentially different from others. All of us are very much alike in appearance and emotional responses; in our capacity to think, to reason, to be miserable; in our need to be happy, to love, and to be loved."

President Hinckley said among the greatest concerns in this group are those who are older and for whom the opportunities for marriage are discouragingly few. "These people are not pariahs to be set aside. They are sons and daughters of God whose talents are to be cultivated and utilized. Of course there are some situations in which they cannot be used. But there are many situations where they can be used and ought to be used and both they and those who hear them will be profited in the process....

"We are neglecting many of these people. Among their numbers are so many who are talented and willing. They represent one of the great resources of the Church."

In the 17 years since offering that address, President Hinckley has repeatedly reiterated his counsel regarding adult single members. The counsel still rings true.

While speaking at the General Relief Society Meeting broadcast just two years ago he offered comfort and counsel to single women. Some, he said, will unfortunately never marry in mortality.

"If that happens, do not spend your life grieving over it," he told them. "The world still needs your talents. It needs your contribution. The Church needs your faith. It needs your strong, helping hand. Life is never a failure, until we call it such."

It was with faith that the single woman mentioned above first attended her residential ward the week after her 31st birthday.

She was surprised at the reception she received. A neighbor offered to drive her to Church and sat with her during sacrament meeting. The bishop, upon learning she could play the piano and organ, told her that the ward desperately needed her talents. Dozens of people introduced themselves, each asking questions that made her feel they genuinely wanted to get to know her.

The woman realized that while she will still experience lonely nights and holidays and she may never, in this life, have a husband and children of her own, she belonged to a Church family. She looked forward to contributing to her ward and giving service in ways that were not possible in her singles ward. She looked forward to serving with other Latter-day Saints — regardless of their marital status and circumstances.

"As members of this great Church ... you are not alone in the world," said President Hinckley on May 15, 2002, to Church members in Jamaica. "We are all part of a great family of those who worship the Lord and try to teach the doctrine which He has revealed in this the dispensation of the fulness of times.

"We live in a great society of Latter-day Saints whose duty and obligation it is to assist one another and help one another and carry one another's burdens."