God sent His Son, His only Son, to save the world through redemptive words and actions of love, mercy, and hope. We acknowledge and honor that great event once again. God did a pretty good job, don’t you think? Jesus did a pretty good job of it, don’t you think? Jesus had but one chance. Through our holy baptism with Jesus living within us, can we do anything less with our one chance? Our one and only chance?

The evening dinner table is a beautiful display of all the food groups facing you and waiting to be shared, filling nostrils with glorious scents and watering mouths beginning awaiting that first taste. The table is set, and everyone is seated except the oldest, who seems to appreciate the bathroom more than the rest of us. I think to myself, it’s okay; it’s a party. We’re in no hurry for it to end. As they say, “savor the moment.”

Sitting down, I wonder to myself, “When was the last time I had a linen napkin in someone’s home?” The dishes look as elegant as the napkins, but I’m too shy to turn the plate over to see who’s responsible for this fine china creation. I see lots of serving spoons in bowls and on platters…but, but I also surprisingly notice that I have only one fork.

“Ummm. I guess I better take care of this one fork,” I think to myself.

“Family style” is what they call this as you pass dishes to each other amid loud conversations and feeling as though you’re reenacting a scene from “The Waltons.” I see one person holding the bowl, making it easier for the older woman who can’t seem to get that bean she wants on her plate. Another person courteously refrains from the portion he truly desires so that the next person can enjoy some. A perfect meal is served to us with delicious tastes at each mouthful. Afterward, the dishes are carefully picked up, and the hostess alerts us to…to… she declares to all her guests gathered around her banquet table, “Keep your fork!”

Ummm. I’m dumbfounded; that explains the expensive dishes and napkins. She couldn’t afford enough forks for us. Poor thing. Surely there must be another set of forks lying around. I stare at my one fork, and I’m glad it’s not as dirty as it could have been. I’m also wondering if I should take the fork home as a souvenir of my “one-forked” evening. I assume she’d miss it since we needed to keep the one already in our possession. She probably counted them all before we arrived.

I play with my one fork during the lull while I see others moving theirs around as they talk and laugh. We’re all waiting for our one fork’s final use. Something was mentioned about dessert.

There are many nourishing courses of food served to us during our lives. Some include academic lessons that we work through to get to life’s next course, but the best and most valuable lessons of life are those that are life-lived. It provides us with spiritual food – food for the body, mind, and spirit. But, and please trust me on this, we only get one single life – one fork.

The essential part of any meal is its digestion – after eating, it’s that time to let rest what has been taken in. We digest a lot about our relationships – good or bad- and ourselves – excellent or indifferent – all done daily during this beautiful banquet we call life. Today, technology bombards us with a wide array of food groups to choose from. Without digestion, especially digested with the spiritual in mind, all that stuff just sits in your tummy, and then you may repeat to others your stomach’s ruminating messages; only without first fully digesting information and opinions through the heart and mind of this divine life, now human, Jesus Christ who shows us our fragile human life can be slowly molded to a fully divine one. It’s called our beautiful Christian faith.

We keep our only fork throughout life’s empty times and situations and also with its bountifulness. We often think there’s another fork waiting for us if we only do “this or that” or think “that or this.” (After all, there are how many forks in the road? I couldn’t resist.)

However, there is only the one fork that we think we possess but is totally on loan from our Creator Cook, God, whose Son earned it for each of us. So, please hold on tightly to your one fork because your one fork belongs to someone else. Cherish it dearly and completely. Hold onto your only fork … why, for what?

We need it for dessert.