Have you ever grown your own potatoes?  If you haven't, you should try it, it's really very simple, and there's nothing quite so good as harvesting your potatoes and cooking them in a 

fry pan that very same night.

You've probably heard that potatoes are started by planting "eyes" or "seed" potatoes.  

This is how it works:  You buy seed potatoes from a reputable company that sells potatoes for planting.  These cost less than the potatoes at the store, and they are certified virus free so they won't spread soil born disease.  You usually start with a whole potato that you cut into smaller pieces.  These pieces get planted in your garden according to instructions on the package and they begin to root. In a few weeks, a plant begins to emerge and it grows all summer long.  In the fall, you dig up the whole plant and you will find lots of potatoes in place of the one small chunk you planted.  As the plant grew, it was photosynthesizing more energy than it needed, and this extra energy was stored as starchy tubers that we know and enjoy as potatoes. 

 

Of course you realize that this is how our faith is supposed to work, right?  Just like a potato plant soaks up the sun and creates a harvest of potatoes for others to enjoy as well as to propagate, we are intended to soak up the blessings of God, we then share those blessings with others, which creates a bountiful harvest.  Like seed potatoes, the more seeds we properly plant, the greater the harvest. One church says it this way:  "With open hands, we receive from God all He wants to give us, believing He wants to give us a lot, and, with open hands, we give it away, believing we cannot out give God!"

I encourage you to try growing some potatoes this spring.  And, as you plant them, as you water them, as you weed around them, do those same things with your faith.  

 

If you do this, you will enjoy a bountiful harvest that will not only satisfy you

 for today, but will also carry on well into the future, perhaps even for eternity!

If you want to learn more about potatoes and faith, I recommend a wonderful family friendly movie called "Faith Like Potatoes." I promise it will inspire you, encourage you and perhaps even help you produce a more bountiful harvest...

 

Carpe Diem for Christ,

Mark Halla

Steward