09/15/2026 from Daily Jokes
#22662
Reverend Thomas had faithfully served the little country church of Oak Creek for over forty years. He was a pillar of the community, a devoted husband, and a man who took his Sunday sermons very seriously. So, when his doctor gently informed him that he had only a few weeks left to live, the news hit him like a freight train.
He returned to the parsonage feeling deeply melancholic, the weight of his mortality pressing down on him. When his wife, Martha, heard the somber diagnosis, her heart broke. She sat beside him, took his trembling hands, and said softly, “Honey, if there is absolutely anything I can do to bring you peace or happiness in these final days, you only have to ask.”
The Reverend thought for a long moment, a curious, almost mischievous look crossing his weary face. “You know, dear,” he began, his voice barely above a whisper, “there is that old shoebox tucked away in the very back of the kitchen cabinet. The one you’ve always called ‘your little secret.’ You swore to me on our wedding day that I was never to open it as long as you lived. But now that I’m about to go home to be with the Lord… why don’t you finally show me what’s inside?”
Martha hesitated, her eyes darting toward the kitchen. But seeing the fragile state of her husband, she sighed, walked to the cabinet, and retrieved the dusty, cardboard box. She placed it on the kitchen table and slowly lifted the lid.
Inside, the Reverend saw two things: a thick, neatly stacked bundle of cash totaling $10,000, and exactly three lonely, slightly dusty eggs.
He blinked, utterly bewildered. “Martha… what on earth are those eggs doing in the box?”
“Well, Honey,” she replied, her voice trembling with gentle honesty, “every single time your Sunday sermon was really, truly bad, I put one egg in the box.”
The Reverend’s eyes widened. He stared at the three eggs. He had been preaching every single Sunday for over forty years. That was more than two thousand sermons! And in all that time, his wife had only deemed three of them truly terrible?
A massive wave of pride washed over him. His chest swelled, his posture straightened, and his soul warmed with a profound sense of validation. He was, without a doubt, a titan of the pulpit!
He smiled warmly at his wife, pointing a proud finger at the thick stack of bills. “And what about that $10,000, my dear?”
Martha looked down at her hands, blushing slightly, and whispered softly:
“Oh, you see… every time there were a dozen eggs in the box, I… ummm… took them to the farmer’s market, sold them, and put the money in the box.”
