Captain Potato

I spent yesterday mostly in the kitchen getting ready for dinner guests. I enjoy puttering around and making things beautiful in the house for entertaining. I also enjoy trying new recipes. A lot of them come right out of my head depending on what I have.

A special potato dish I decided to make required peeled potatoes. As I was getting the potatoes scrubbed and ready to peel, I noticed the largest one had such an amazing face on it! In case you think I’m imagining things, take a look at this picture I snapped. Don’t you think it looks like an old sea captain, or some other character type? Perhaps Popeye with his pipe?!

The more I started preparing the potatoes, the more faces I started to see! Now it appeared Captain Potato was surrounded by his family! Take a look at a few more pictures I snapped as I turned the potatoes in various directions to reveal their personalities. Then you’ll see what I mean. (I’ve uploaded them to: http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh15/real-lifepix/Captain%20Potato/?albumview=slideshow)

Yes, I know – I’m always seeing faces in everything. But that’s the artistic side of me coming out! In a busy day, it made me laugh, stop and get my camera. So I got a nice break from my tasks and have some photos to pull out on a rainy day to enjoy a laugh again.

When my dinner guests arrived, I got to show them” Captain Potato Head,” as they named him, in his new home beside the sink. He was the only one I saved from the potato family, as I had enough potatoes without him. They shared a good laugh too, and suggested I auction him off on e-Bay! Okay. So if you want to buy a weird potato, it’s for sale. ;-)

As you can see from the final picture, my distorted sense of humor got the best of me when I was peeling the potatoes. The peels were flying everywhere and started looking like hair to me, so I decided to see what Captain Potato looked like with hair. Now you know!

What can we learn from all this levity? Well, for one, I have witnessed many times when strange and funny things happened just when I needed a break or an answer or a change of state – too many times to not realize that God has a great sense of humor too! In fact, he created the aberration in the potato. It was up to me to find it, recognize it, and take delight in it.

Isn’t that the way life is? God has put many wonderful things in our path. Most times we are too busy or self-absorbed or looking in a different direction to notice all the surprises along the way.

Why not decide to start looking for the sprinkles of joy and beauty, love and wonder God has put along your path? Whether you find it in the amazement of a clear and starry night or the silly face of a not-so-ordinary potato, it is there for the taking!

For more amazement, read about the wonder of God’s perspective in Job 38 & 39. Then read about the human side of Jesus in Luke 5: 1-11, Matthew 17:24-27, and John 21:1-14, all stories about how he related to them through common things in their world - in this case, fish.