Hold on to Your Fork

This was a true story in my family. A distant cousin of mine was failing physically. He knew he hadn’t been doing well and probably had not long to live. He and my mom were talking about things one day and this cousin, who was a godly man and ready to go and meet His Savior, told my mom he wanted to be buried with his fork in his hand.

Why?

When he was growing up, they went to his Grandma’s for Sunday dinner. As the meal was being finished and plates were being cleared, sometimes Grandma would say the words everyone wanted to hear, “Hold on to your fork.” The family all liked to hear this because they knew that meant Grandma had made dessert that Sunday and they needed to keep the fork for the good things that were coming. My distant cousin wanted to be buried with his fork because he knew something better was coming, and he was ready.

Paul puts it this way in Romans 8:

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We are living in a fallen and sin-filled world. Pain and death and destruction are a part of what happens on a regular basis. But, one day, that will all be passed away, and God’s glory will be revealed. When that happens, what we experience will be so much better, so much greater than anything we can imagine. We have so much to look forward to. Hold on to your fork!