Keep Your Fork

I don't know why, but on this Good Friday I am reminded of a little anecdote I first heard in church and have since seen many times in my email in variations on the same theme.

It starts out with an elderly woman who has no family and she is in very poor health. The pastor comes over one day to visit her and take down the arrangements she would like for her funeral. They go through all the basic information and then she makes one more request. "Pastor, I want you to make sure that I am buried with a fork in my hand". Now the Pastor had known this woman for a long time and had never known her to do anything out of the ordinary, so he was totally taken by surprise by this comment. "Why a fork"?, he asked.

She said, "Well, at all the church banquets I have attended, we have always been asked to keep our forks when the tables are cleared before dessert and I looked forward to that because it was always the best part of the meal". So, I want to be ready with a fork in my hand as I go to heaven, because I know the best is yet to come".

Isn't it true, that many of us see dessert as the best of any meal, no matter what is served at any course? I remember growing up I would always make Christmas dessert. They started with simple Jello concoctions and got more fancy every year. And the extended family would always ooooo and ahhhh over it and I would feel so special.

It is nice when we can put that same enthusiasm into other expectations in our lives, whether it is doing well on an exam, finishing school, meeting the right person, getting married, having a child, going on a trip to a place we haven't been, or, going to heaven.

So food can represent expectation. This can be positive, like a wonderful dessert or, sadly it can be the expectation of where your next meal will come from and when. Kinda sounds like life, doesn't it?