The Whole Potato

Sllllik…sliiiik…slikkkkk…

That is the sound of a potato being peeled. This starchy vegetable is getting its skin ripped off, and I’m also gouging out its eyes. (Graphic way to die…I wouldn’t want to be a potato.)

Tonight’s dinner would be a simple scalloped potatoes and ham, and there I was, peeling away. I’m kinda OCD, and I don’t like spots or splotches or blemishes–especially on my vegetables. This particular spudling had a few issues, and didn’t have the patience for it. It frustrated me that such a small object could be so…so imperfect.

Suddenly, I realized that it wasn’t the blemishes I was frustrated with: it was the whole potato.

It was as if the still-ungouged eyes from the potato were looking back at me.

“Spppftt!” they said. “You’re imperfect, and you know it. But it’s not your imperfections you hate about yourself–no, you just hate your whole self.”

It was a sobering moment, just me and that raw potato.

Sadly, however, I think it’s very true. There are times when my redeemed soul looks at my mortal flesh and shudders. My mind is continually being renewed in the knowledge and grace of Christ, but sometimes the contrast between redemption and my need for it…well, it causes my pride to flare up.

I want to be perfect. I want to be blameless. I want to be free of worldly blemishes.

But, too often I want to be that same source of perfection. So when Christ comes in and takes over that role, it reveals that I am incapable of perfecting myself through myself, or by myself.

And still I try to self-perfect. Which ends in self-hatred. Which ends in a wrongful perception of myself and God…which often leads me into sin.

The moral of this story? Peel those potatoes with grace. I’ve claimed Christ’s forgiveness for my sins. His dominion is over my life, and I have access to the paragon of perfection: His perfection. It’s not mine, it’s His.

But He is more than willing to share with me.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
– 2 Peter 1:3-4