Keep The Fork
By Chas
There was a woman who had been diagnosed with a
terminal illness and
was given
3 months to live. As she began getting her things
"in order'''', she
called her pastor and
asked him to 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
wanted read, and what dress she wanted to be
buried in. She also
requested to be buried
with her favorite Bible in her left hand.
Everything was in order and
as the pastor was
preparing to leave, the woman suddenly remembered
on final request
that was very
important to her.
"Please Pastor, just one more thing", she said
excitedly. "Sure, what
is it?" came
the pastor''s reply. "This is very important to
me," the woman
continued .... "I want to be
buried holding a fork in my right hand."
The pastor gazed at the woman, at a loss for
words. "That surprises
you, doesn''t
it?" the woman asked. The pastor replied "Well, to
be quite honest,
I''m puzzled by the
request".
The woman explained. "You see, Pastor, in all my
years of attending church
socials and potluck dinners, I remember that when
the dishes were
being cleared after the
main course, someone would inevitably lean over to
me and say, "Keep
your Fork" ... it
was my favorite part because I knew that something
better was coming,
like velvety
chocolate cake or deep dish apple pie. Something
wonderful, and with
substance to end
the great meal".
The pastor listened intently and a smile came upon
his face. The woman
continued, "So, I just want people to see me there
in the 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
good-bye.
He knew that this would be one of the last times
that 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
and trusted that the best was yet to come.
At the funeral, everyone that walked by the
woman''s casket saw her
wearing a
beautiful dress with her favorite Bible held in
her left hand and a
fork held in her right
hand. Over and over the pastor heard people ask
the question, "Why is
she holding a
fork?" and his smile began to get larger and
brighter each time.
During his message, the pastor told the people
about the conversation
that he had
with the woman shortly before she died. He
explained the fork and what
it symbolized to
her. The Pastor told everyone how he could not
stop thinking about the
fork and how he
hoped that they would not be able to stop thinking
about it either.
That fork and the meaning of it to the woman had
quite the impact on
everyone
and they are still sharing the story with people
they meet. And now it
has been shared
with you ... so the next time you reach for your
fork, let it remind
you, oh so gently, that
the best is yet to come ...
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