“Oh my God! I can’t believe how magnificent that is! That is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”
As my cousin, my wife and I motored through 18 western states over the past 31 days logging in excess of 8,500 miles, I lost count of the number of times we uttered those exclamations. But, thinking that we had just seen the most splendid site ever typically lasted only until our vehicle rounded the next bend in the road where what awaited there was an even more amazing sight.
Beside an even greater appreciation of the vast beauty our country possesses, both within our diverse geography and within our people, another treasured “take away” from our journey was a reminder that even greater splendors always await us “just around the bend” if we only remain open to them.
With that thought engrained in my both my mind and heart, as I now commence again my weekly musing on inspiration, I recall a wonderful story that so well illustrates this point. It was penned by Roger William Thomas and is titled Keep your Fork, the Best is Yet to Come.
There was a woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and was given three 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 one final request that was very important to her.
“Please Pastor, just one more thing,” she said excitedly.
“Sure, what is it?” the Pastor replied.
“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 am puzzled by your 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 you fork.’ It was my favorite part of the meal because I knew that something better was coming, like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful to end the meal!”
As the pastor listened intently, a smile came upon his face. The woman continued, “So, I just want people to see me there with that 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 pastors eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the woman goodbye. He knew that this would probably be the last time that he would see her before her death. He was also humbled by the realization that this 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 who 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 eulogy, the pastor relayed to the gathering his conversation 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.
So the next time you reach for your fork, let it remind you, oh so gently, that the best is yet to come.
“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” – C.S. Lewis
Have an AWE-full weekend!
William J. “Bill” Bacqué