Eleven years ago a
friend emailed the following story to me.
With all the uncertainty and hard-times we are facing this year I
thought it was time for a reminder of what is yet to come.
There was a woman who had been diagnosed
with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. As she was getting her things “in order,” she
contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects
of her final wishes. She told him which
songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and
what outfit she wished to be buried in.
The woman also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible.
Everything was in order and the pastor
was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very
important to her.
“There’s one more thing,” she said
excitedly.
“What’s that?” came the pastor’s reply.
“This
is very important,” the woman continued.
“I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.”
The pastor stood looking at the woman,
not knowing what to say.
“That surprises you, doesn’t it?” the
woman asked.
“Well, to be honest, I’m puzzled by the
request,” Said the pastor.
The woman explained, “In all my years of
attending church socials and potluck dinners, I remember that always when the
dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean
over and say, ‘Keep your fork.’ It was
my favorite part, because I knew something better was coming-like velvety
chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie.
Something wonderful and with substance!
So I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my
hand, and I want them to wonder, ‘What’s with the fork?’ Then I want you to tell them, ‘Keep your
fork---the best is yet to come.’”
The pastor’s eyes welled up with tears
of joy as he hugged the woman goodbye.
He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her
death, but he also knew that the woman had a better grasp of Heaven than he
did. She knew that something better was
coming!
At the funeral, people were walking by
the woman’s casket and they saw the pretty dress she was wearing, her favorite
Bible, and the fork placed in her right hand.
Over and over the pastor heard the question, “What’s with the
fork?” Over and over he smiled.
During his message the pastor told the
people of the conversation he had with the woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about
what it symbolized to her. The pastor
told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork, and he told them
that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either. He was right!
So—the next time you reach down for your
fork, let it remind you ever so gently that the best is yet to come!
-
Author Unknown
“For the
Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the
shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who
have departed this life in Christ will rise first. Then we, the living ones who remain [on
the earth], shall simultaneously be caught up along with [the resurrected dead]
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity
of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord!” 1 Thess. 4:16-17 AMP
