There was an elderly woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live.
So as she was getting her things 'in order,' she contacted her Pastor and had him come to her house to discuss 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. Everything was in order and the Pastor was preparing to leave when the woman said 'There's one more thing,'.
'What's that?' came the Pastor's reply.
'This is very important,' the elderly woman continued. 'I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.'
The Pastor stood looking at her, not knowing quite what to say.
The woman explained. '
In all my years of attending socials and dinners, I always remember that 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 chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie."
She continued, '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 elderly woman good-bye.
He knew this would be the last time he would see her before her death. But he also knew, as did the elderly woman,
that something better was coming.
At the funeral people were walking by the elderly woman's casket and they saw the fork placed in her right hand.
Over and over, the Pastor heard the question, 'What's with the fork?' And over and over he smiled. During his message, the Pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the elderly woman shortly before she died..
He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her.
He 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. 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 and that death is not final, but it is only the beginning and the best is yet to come.
