An online adapted and used with permission from PrayerBench.ca.
Day Two: POTATOES!
Meditation:
Who hasn’t tasted a potato? Across cultures and cuisines this humble vegetable is the base of such a huge range of dishes. It’s hardly ever the star of the dish or meal, leaving that elevated status to fancier veggies or choice cuts of meat or flavorful sauces. Yet what a potato brings to a meal, and to the person eating the food is a generous dose of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Intriguingly, while the potato is often a side dish, in themselves potatoes can provide almost a complete nutritious meal.
The humble potato brings to mind the underestimated and undervalued trait of humility. Society would have us crave so many other things in a bid to be successful or fulfilled or empowered. Typically humility isn’t high up the list. What happens when we place our hope in humility? Depending on our life lived experience of potatoes, when we look at the humble potato we may see an unassuming nondescript odd shaped, boring, dirt covered, root vegetable. Alternatively, we may envision the base of a fulfilling and sustaining feast, rich with an endless range of mouth-watering possibilities, full of goodness, substance and hope.
That’s the trick of humility. We can’t capture, proclaim or own humility with pride and power. We can’t shout from the mountaintops about how humble we are. The power of humility lies in unassuming and invisible ways. But make no mistake, there is power in humility and there is hope in humility.
Reflect on this scripture:
What does our God require of you but to do justice,
and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8 (NRSV)
Presented here through song too, from our More Voice book:
Question to ponder:
In what ways is God nudging you to be humble?
Oct 16th is World Food Day – how can you help seek Food Justice?
As you ramble today, or watch from your window, take particular notice of the sightings of humble things in nature. How can we learn from nature?
And some fun activities:
For you farmers out there – here is an interesting video on growing potatoes:
And for you cooks, here is a traditional Irish Potato Colcannon recipe – if you have other good potato recipes – please send them in.
Peel potatoes and cook in water seasoned with salt until soft. Strain off about two thirds of the water into a microwave jug. Add a handful of finely chopped green cabbage to the strained water. Cook the cabbage in the microwave for a short time until the colour of the cabbage has brightened in shade. Meanwhile mash the potatoes with the remainder of the potato water, adding in sprinkling of white pepper and salt to taste. If more liquid is required to make a fluffy mashed potato, use some from the cooked cabbage. Drain the cabbage (reserving the water) and add to the mashed potato along with a few chopped chives. Add back in water to achieve the desired soup or mashed potato consistency according to your preference. Serve in a soup bowl with a large knob of butter in the centre of the colcannon.
