Keep Your Fork

Good Morning,

I read the story of a young woman who had been diagnosed as terminally ill. When discussing her funeral arrangements with her pastor she made one rather odd request. She wanted to be in shown in the casket with a fork in her right hand.  In her explanation of the request she told the story of how her grandpa, at the end of a meal, always enjoyed hearing the words “Keep your fork”. Those words meant that dessert was coming – something special was on the way.

The young woman’s hope was that when people inquired about the fork, the pastor could say, keep the fork, the best is yet to come. Sure enough, at the funeral the pastor had opportunities to remind people that the best is in fact yet to come, and that God has something truly special in store for those that love Him.

I love the challenge of this story because it is so easy to expect more from this life than it was ever designed to give us.  True, most of us experience many wonderful joys on our journey. But as with any journey, there are curves and bumps in the road. There are times we even find ourselves feeling lost. And if we aren’t careful instead of pausing for perspective and thinking about life in heaven with Jesus, we work ourselves to death. We strive to turn these years into something that will meet our deepest needs and fill us completely.  The reality is that that is not possible.  Our greatest joy will be seeing our Savior face to face and hearing the words “well done”.  In that moment, absolutely nothing else will matter. Heaven will provide the ultimate respite from the trials of this life.

So, the next time you pick up your fork take a moment to think about the future from an eternal perspective.  Take solace and gain strength that no matter what life holds for you today the best is yet to come.  The prize that awaits us is better than we can imagine.

So “Keep Your Fork” this morning.

“But, as it is written, no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”  1 Cor. 2:9

Live this week on purpose,
Ron Klopfenstein