Keep Your Fork

​A friend sent me a story yesterday from a Chicken Soup for the Soul Book about a fork. As a result, I now have a fork sitting next to my keyboard where I write and work.

Why?

Well, as the story goes, a dying woman was meeting with her pastor to help prepare for her upcoming funeral. The woman asked to be buried with a fork in her right hand. Of course, the pastor was puzzled by this.

The young woman explained. ‘My grandmother once told me this story, and from that time on I have always tried to pass along its message to those I love and those who are in need of encouragement. 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 velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!’

‘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.’

After reading that story from my friend, I'm reminded that we often forget the best is yet to come, or we get to believing the best is never going to come. We get to believing this NOT because it's true, but often because our mind gets set on expecting the worst in life.

Maybe because we've lived through a period that wasn't the best and it's hard to imagine a better life beyond it.

This fork story reminds me that more important than changing our lives to experience the best, we often have to start with our minds. This woman's dying wish was that her friends would pass by her casket and change their outlook on life. She wanted them to walk away believing they were a whole lot closer to their best life than they were when they walked up to her.

I was winding down yesterday and started to pick up the clutter that inevitably gathers around my work area. I hastily picked up that fork, ready to toss it in the sink.

Then it hit me - the best is yet to come. And I sat that fork back down.

What physical reminders do you have sitting next to you? What reminders do you carry in your pocket or in your purse? What song do you turn on or what book do you read?

What is your reminder that the best is yet to come?

Keep hold of your reminder. Because sometimes we don't get down because life is down, we get down because our mind starts believing it is. Sometimes we get to believing that because we didn't keep our fork.

So today - grab your fork. And keep it.