A Mouse Trap Story

A mouse looked through the crack
in the wall to see the farmer and
his wife open a package.

What food might this contain?"
The mouse wondered - - -

he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning:
There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched,
raised her head and said,

"Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you,
but it is of no consequence to me.

I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him,

"There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The pig sympathized, but said,

"I am so very sorry, Mr.Mouse,

but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.
Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said

"There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse.
I'm sorry for you,

but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house,

head down and dejected,
to face the farmer's mousetrap . . .

alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house

-- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.

In the darkness,

she did not see it was

 

a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital

and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with

fresh chicken soup,

 

so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard

for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued,
so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.

To feed them, the farmer butchered the

pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well;

she died.

So many people came for her funeral,
the farmer had the cow slaughtered

to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all

from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So,
the next time you hear someone is facing a problem

and think it doesn't concern you,

remember ----

when
one of us is threatened,
we are all at risk.


We must keep an eye out for one another

and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

The Woman and The Fork

There was a young 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, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in.

Everything was in order and the Pastor was preparing to leave when the young 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 young woman continued. "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."

The Pastor stood looking at the young woman, not knowing quite what to say.

That surprises you, doesn't it?" the young woman asked.

"Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request," said the Pastor.

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."

The Pastor's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the young woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the young woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She had a better grasp of what heaven would be like than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge. She KNEW that something better was coming.

At the funeral people were walking by the young woman's casket and they saw the cloak she was wearing 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 young woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. He 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, ever so gently, that the best is yet to come.