KEEP THE FORK

A young man applying for a job was asked by the personnel director, “How old are you?”  He replied, “Twenty-seven.”  He was then asked by the director, “And what do you expect to be in three years?”  With all seriousness of thought he said, “Thirty.”

You might think I`m crazy to write about expectations so close to the end of the year.  Those are thoughts to be spared for the brink of the new year, right?  Wrong.  In his hit song, “If you`re out there“ American Songwriter John Legend sings: “The future started yesterday, and we`re already late…”

I stumbled upon the story of the lady with the fork yesterday, and I just knew it should be my Blog post today…A woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness and given three months to live.  She asked her pastor to come to her home to discuss her final wishes.  She told him which songs she wanted sung at her funeral, what scriptures she wanted read, and which outfit she wanted to be buried in.

Then she said, “One more thing…I want to be buried with a fork in my hand.”  The woman explained, “In all my years of attending socials and dinners, I always remembered that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably say, “Keep your fork.”  It was my favourite time of the dinner, because I knew something better was coming, like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie – something wonderful.

So, I want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and wonder, “What’s with the fork?”  Then, I want you to tell them, “Keep your fork, because the best is yet to come…” The pastor’s eyes were welled up with tears of joy as he hugged 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 favourite 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.

We often hear people say that optimism, hope, and good expectations are some of the greatest qualities people can possess.  In “Hunger Games” Suzanne Collins writes: “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear…”

On this Sunday afternoon of November 2020, are you still hopeful?  What are YOUR expectations?  Do you feel that the best years of your life are behind you?  Do you think that the greatest and most enjoyable and rewarding experiences have already taken place?  If you have thought this way, take heart, for the truth is that, no matter how good life may have been to you already, no matter how bad life has treated you, the best is yet to be!

We all know Robert Downey Jr, one of the highest paid actors today thanks to his role as Tony Stark in Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes.  But did you know that a few years ago he spent months in jail and rehab for drug possession?  At the time no one thought that he would be able to kick his addiction and make a comeback…

We are all familiar with the true story of Seabiscuit, the winning racehorse of the 1940s.  When a tendon ruptured, everyone figured Seabiscuit had seen the last of his racing days.  The horse was retired to a ranch where he wandered a paddock, became fat and tried to race deer along the fences.

After a period of convalescence, Seabiscuit recovered enough that his owner decided to give him one last chance to win the Santa Anita “Hundred Grander.” Not only did Seabiscuit win, but he clocked the fasted mile and a quarter in track history, and the second fastest ever run on an American track.

Three and a half years…That’s how long Muhammad Ali was suspended from boxing at the height of his professional career. The suspension was a result of his claim for conscientious objector status after the U.S. military drafted him to fight in Vietnam.

Ali cleared his name in court, he was reinstated by the boxing association, but it was the 1970s now and the arena had changed. Fighting machines Joe Frazier and George Foreman were arguably more formidable than any competitor the younger Ali had fought back in the 1960s.

Ali lost “The Fight of the Century” against Frazier in 1970, but later beat him in a rematch, then, in the same year, beat reigning champion George Foreman.

Ali kept fighting until 1981.

…During her life in hiding with her family from the Nazis in the 1940s, the brave Jewish girl Anne Frank wrote: “What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven`t even happened yet.”

We cannot go back and change the course of this strange 2020, but we have two more months to determine what we will experience and how we will experience it.  It was the English poet John Oxenham who once wrote: “To every man there openeth a high way and a low/And every man decideth the way his soul shall go…”

The power of decision is ours.  It makes no difference who we are or what our age or present circumstances are.  If we decide to keep our forks, there ARE better things to come.  We have the choice to improve continuously and not go backwards.  That`s why we are hosting a 6-week Summer Shred Challenge that starts tomorrow.  And that`s exactly why 75 women have already signed up.

You don`t need a fitness Challenge to keep your fork.  But you do get to choose to believe that the best is yet to come.  The French poet Victor Hugo said: “The future goes by many names.  To the weak it is the unreachable.  To the frightened, the unknown.   To the brave it is opportunity…”

And therefore, I strongly believe that the best is always yet to come.  With one important caveat.  A but only…

The best is yet to come, but only if you put in the work.

Only if you don`t rest on the laurels of past successes.

Only if you keep learning and growing.

Only if you look after your health and relationships.

Only if you stay focused and true to your calling.

Only if you can continue to smile in the midst of adversity.

“The best is yet to come” was the last song Frank Sinatra sang in public, on February 25, 1995.  These words are also etched on his tombstone:

“You ain`t seen nothin` yet

The best is yet to come…”

Let`s hold on to our forks – there are far, far better things ahead than any we have left behind.

Yours in fitness

Mirna

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