There was a woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. As she was getting things “in order,” she contacted her pastor for 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 would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. The woman also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible.
Everything was done and the pastor was leaving when the woman suddenly exclaimed, “There’s one more thing,” The pastor asked, “What’s that?” As he turned, he saw that she had left the living room and was in the kitchen. He heard her rummaging around as she called, “This is…” she came back in to the living room,…“very important.” with a fork in her right hand!
“I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.” she proclaimed. All the pastor could say was a slow, “Well…” “That surprises you, doesn’t it?” the woman asked, smiling. “Does it show?” the pastor asked. She nodded. The pastor said, “Well, it does seem strange.”
The woman explained. “In all my years of attending church social and potluck dinners, I always remember 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 that something better was coming…like velvety chocolate cake or deep dish
apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!”
The lady said, “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 her good-bye. 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 and her favorite Bible and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the pastor heard the question, “What’s with the fork?”
And he just smiled. During his message, he told the people of the conversation he had with the woman shortly before she died and what the fork symbolized to her. The pastor told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either. So the next time you reach down for your fork, let it gently remind you that the best is yet to come…
Source:Unknown
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