Keep the Fork!
There was a 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 certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service and what scriptures she would like read at her funeral service. The woman also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible.
Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her. “There’s one more thing,” she said excitedly.
“What’s that?” came the pastor’s reply.
“This is very important,” the woman continued. “I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.” The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say. “That surprises you, doesn’t it?” the woman asked.
“Well to be honest, I’m puzzled by the request,” said the pastor.
The woman explained. “In all my years of attending church socials and potluck 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 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 jugged the woman goodbye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But, he also knew that the woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She KNEW that something better was coming.
At the funeral, people were walking by the woman’s casket and they saw the pretty dress she was wearing and her favorite Bible and 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 woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. the pastor 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 oh so gently, that
THE BEST IS YET TO COME ? having a spirit of optimism. These are some random thoughts about optimism. Some notes about Sister Hinckley’s life and optimism as well.
Alma changed in 72 hours ? saul of torsus on way to Damascus.
When is the best of life ? when we are young or when we are older.
?I don?t want to grow up I?m a Toys R Us kid.?
As a man thinketh so is he in Proverbs ? think the best is yet to be and create it.
Robert Browning ? the first half is preparation for the second half.
So many don?t believe it. Mosiah 2:41
This thought will change your behavior ? do you believe this.
Life is more than I ever imagined it would be. Marjorie Hinckley
My mother said, ?I have a new project to read one chapter a day from each of the standard works. I?ve been on it four days and I?m only three days behind.?
Thank you, mother for helping us laugh at ourselves and for keeping discouragement at bay.
?Happy Birthday Please get something for you with this money. I realize that it will not buy much more than a double-decker cone on today?s market. But know that my love for you is also keeping up with inflation. It triples each passing year. Love, Grandma?
?Tomorrow you will be starting out to conquer a new world. Tuck this five dollars in your pocket. You may need a bottle of glue to keep yourself together, or to keep your smile glued on. Good luck. We are so proud of you. Love, Grandma?
?Thank you, mother for loving our children.”
Excerpts from Sheri Dew?s talk:
?When I learned that Sister Hinckley had slipped through the veil, I had a flood of emotions, but through my tears I also felt a sweet jubilation. I couldn?t help but think, she did it! She did what she came here to do, and she did it magnificently, for she left everywhere she went and everyone she met better than she found them.
?Ten years ago I sat out to study the life of President Hinckley, but it quickly became apparent that it wasn?t possible to study his life without studying hers. They were hand-in-glove. Sister Hinckley was quick and bright and real. There were never any pretenses with her, She had an unbelievable sense of humor, and curiously I always left her presence feeling better about myself.
?I quickly saw that she was like a perpetual transfusion for her husband, and everyone who knew her well said she had the same effect on them. They insisted that if they could package her unique brand of optimism, they could make a fortune and change the world in the process.
?For years I tried to put my finger on just exactly what it was that made Sister Hinckley so irresistible. Marjorie was faith, hope and charity personified. It is the pure love of Christ everyone felt in her presence. It was the pure love of Christ that allowed her to stop worrying about how the world saw and treated her and let her focus on how she treated others. She simply chose to see the best in any situation.
?When Kathy lived in Hawaii and grieved over the fruit in her backyard at home, her mother told her, ?Don?t grieve over the cherries; enjoy the pineapple.
Sister Hinckley said:
?Make life an adventure.?
?Are there not days when you are simply overwhelmed by the blessings of the Lord??
?When you see what is happening in this church, it is just thrilling to get up in the morning.?
?Life is more than I ever imagined it would be.?
?She loved people. She believed in people and no one more than her husband. A year after his ordination as president of the Church she said in a regional conference. ?He is always been a very wonderful man, but there is something special about him now. The mantle is upon him and I try to remember that when he drapes his ties over the sofa. I try to remember that he isn?t perfect, just almost perfect. I?m so grateful to share his wife with them.?
?She was good humored about her advancing age. More than once she was heard to say, ?Oh to be 70 again.?
She even learned to adjust to her husband?s tendency to make last-minute travel arrangements. One incident is a family legend. One night before a trip to South American when she asked if she should plan to go with him, he said, ?Can?t we decide that in the morning??
?She told a congregation when her husband had asked her to speak, ?I can tell you why my husband has called on me. It is because he is still trying to figure out what to say and I?m supposed to stall.?
?Through it all she found joy in the journey, side-by-side with her husband, so much so that on their 59th anniversary, she said simply, it has been 59 years of heaven on earth– which now makes this temporary parting a difficult one.
?President Hinckley, I am sure it wasn?t easy to tell us about Sister Hinckley?s failing health last Sunday in your concluding remarks, but thank you for trusting us with something so tender and for allowing us to add our prayers to yours–and we won?t stop, because now comes the challenge of carrying on.
?I?ve heard many members of the Church this week say that they are going to work a little harder to somehow lighten your load. Truly we will try to stand a little taller in your words and do our part a little better. And while 12 million members all together cannot take the place of one spunky, committed, deeply faithful, incredibly optimistic woman who was devoted to the Lord, in every time zone and on every continent, we will be praying that you will have the strength to carry on.
In President Hinckley?s first conference address 46 Aprils ago, he said that all of us are largely the product of the lives that touch ours. Today, I am deeply grateful to pay tribute to a woman whose life has touched all of ours and from whom we have learned so much. We have learned that living the gospel is the only way to be happy and that being happy is a choice.
We have learned that it is possible for a woman to be intensely supportive of her husband while continuing to grow and flourish herself. That when a righteous man and woman commit to each other completely the bond is impenetrable and eternal, that an unpretentious woman filled with the pure love of God and devoted to him can move about the entire earth and leave everybody she meets better than she found them, that a testimony of Jesus Christ is what undergirds it all, and that it is really possible in the latter part of the latter-days to do what we came here to do and to do it with joy. Marjorie Pay Hinckley is proof positive that it can be done. I will be grateful for the rest of my life for the privilege of knowing and loving and learning from this magnificent woman.
