Spring is upon us and soon we’ll be planning our outdoor pool parties, games of croquet, badminton, or corn hole, and some great summer picnics! And there’s no better contribution to a picnic than a great bowl of potato salad!

As you begin to prepare your potato salad, keep in mind the most essential part of the salad is the tater you choose! Did you know the best varieties for potato salad are Yellow Finns, Yukon Golds, and red potatoes? Their high moisture content gives the salad a more pleasant texture when cold, and they hold up better to chopping and tossing with the dressing than drier, more mealy potatoes, like Russets.

So let’s make a bowl!

Tater Salad
Serves 10-12

Ingredients:
5 pounds red potatoes
1 cup mayonnaise
½ cup Miracle Whip
1/3 cup milk
1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 bunch radishes, cleaned and sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 kosher dill pickles, chopped
½ red onion, chopped fine
6 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
Paprika

Peel (if desired) and cut the potatoes in half. Boil until tender about 20 minutes. (They’re tender when you can easily stick a fork into the potato.) Drain.

While the potatoes are boiling, in a large bowl blend mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, milk and the mustards until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cut the potatoes into cubes and add to the dressing, folding carefully as you add them. Add green onions and radishes, celery, pickles, and red onion and blend well. Layer the hard-cooked egg slices on top for a pretty presentation. Sprinkle with paprika. Chill well to let the flavors blend and then serve!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
Just as the type of tater you choose contributes to the quality of your potato salad, there are also “taters” that impact the quality of your spiritual life.

Are you an “Ampu-Tater”?  Often you’ll come across a tater with a bad spot and rather than throw the whole thing away, what do you do? You cut it out! Mark 9:47 says “And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell”. When Jesus said this, I doubt it was his intention for this instruction to be taken literally because eyes, hands and feet cannot, of and by themselves, commit sin. Instead, Jesus is using a descriptive analogy to show us how important it is that we should not tolerate sin as a primary part of our lives. If we have a sinful habit, we should overcome it, even though the process may be as painful as the loss of an eye, because it is far better to forsake a sinful pleasure than to lose our salvation! We need to be “Amputators”!

Are you a “Spec-Tater”?  1 Corinthians 12:12, 15-18 says “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ I t would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” Jesus doesn’t want us to be “Spectaters”, sitting on the sidelines, not entering in, not sharing the gifts he’s given us to minister to and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ. Without you, the Body is incomplete. Don’t be a “Spectator”!

Are you a “Reins-Tater”?  Have you ever gathered up a handful of taters to drop them into the cooking pot, and one falls on the floor?  Rather than toss it away, I rinse it with fresh water until it is clean and then toss it in with the others!  Matthew 18:15 says “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.” And James 5:19-20 tells us “My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”  We are called to be “Reinstators”!

Are you a “Hesi-Tater” or a “Facili-Tater”?  I read a story not too long ago about a famous aerial acrobat who had lost his footing and fell from the high wire to the ground below. A reporter, who interviewed him after the accident, suggested that once he returned to the wire, he might be afraid of falling again. The acrobat responded “I did not fall because I was afraid. I fell because I hesitated. Hesitation is the number one killer in our business.” And it is the number one reason why people do not accept Christ. No one plans to perish. Many perish because they think there will be a better time or another opportunity or need. So, they hesitate.

There is another kind of hesitation that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, must also always keep in mind. There are some we know and love who may perish, not because they hesitated, but because we hesitated to witness to them and share God’s love and plan of salvation. As Christ’s messengers we must seize the moment. Rather than being a “Hesitator”, we need to be a “Facilitator”. Jude 1:21-23 tells us “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” 2 Corinthians 6:2 says “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Let’s always be “Facilitators”!

—    Cheri Henderson