Young @ Heart by Pam Young
Is there anything ickier than a rotten potato? There's that saying,
"one rotten apple spoils the barrel," well give me a rotten apple any
day! One rotten potato affects all the potatoes that are next to it
in a sack and if left, that one potato would affect the whole bag.
That usually doesn't happen because of the smell. I don't think I
could let a whole bag "go" because just the stench of one rotten
potato is enough for a call to action.
I got an email from a woman who said her teacher (spiritual) asked the
students to bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes to class.
They were told to write the name of every person they had not
forgiven on each potato. Some of the bags were quite heavy. They had
to carry their bag with them everywhere, putting it beside their bed
at night, on the car seat when driving, next to their desk at work
until they could forgive the people the potatoes represented. "The
hassle of lugging it around made it clear, what a weight I was
carrying spiritually, and how I had to pay attention to it all the
time to not forget, and keep leaving it in embarrassing places," she
wrote. Naturally, the condition of the potatoes would deteriorate to
a disgusting gunk if you didn't let go and forgive. This is a great
metaphor for the price we pay for keeping our grievances.
So after reading the email I thought of myself as a potato who has
some forgiving to do. There are two potatoes I can think of without
any effort. Now if I don't forgive these potatoes I myself as a
potato am rotting on the inside and I affect those who live in the
sack with me because I'm not as totally loving as I could be. Terry's
the only one in the sack with me, (ahemm) and I know he is affected by
my blame of these two potatoes I haven't forgiven or seen in five years!
I decided to cut a russet in half and put it on my desk with the names
of the "unforgiven" on the halves. They are going to sit on my desk
until I have completely forgiven them. The halves will show me what's
happening on the inside of me. They will also illustrate what I'm
doing to the potato I love and share my life with not to mention my
potato friends and family who have had to listen to the tales of these
two "evil" potatoes who have "seemingly" wronged me. I also know I
can't afford to let this metaphor rot before my eyes AND nose.
I will report back, what's happening on my desk (and in me), but I
challenge you to join me in this experiment. I intend to have fun
with this. I have even come up with a reward for the forgiving. A
baked potato is one of my favorite foods, so I am going to bake the
biggest potato I can find and load it (butter, sour cream, bacon and
chives) in celebration of the forgiving; until then, no baked potatoes.
I know that forgiving is a natural attitude we were born with and
getting in touch with that attitude can happen in a blink or a
lifetime, it's up to us how long it takes. I have faith in myself
that as the russet deteriorates and the carrot of a baked potato hangs
before me it will be closer to a blink than a lifetime.
|
