Preference

By Leesa Ostrander

The other day, I heated the oven to 425, washed the pump sweet potato, place it on a foil lined stoneware, set the timer for 1 hour. Then, I waited.

Slowly the house filled with the aroma of sweet, starchy baked sweet potato.

I had to step outside to ease my salivating mouth from drowning me.

As I waited outside, my girls came home from school. We walked in the house and they lost all sense of after-school routine. They dropped everything at the door and ran to the kitchen.

All three of us stood around the oven while I pulled it out.

The girls, now beyond excited could wait no longer to dig in. I told them we first need to slice the potato, place a pat of butter on it and let it cool.

I explained, “It is very hot and will burn you if you try to eat it now.”

My older daughter sat patiently watching the butter infiltrate the potato. She sat closely and smelled the sweet steam mixed with a buttery quality rising into her nose.

My younger daughter could not wait. She took a huge forkful and stuffed the entire bite in her mouth. She jumped off the chair, mouth ajar muffling, “HOT, hot.” However, she did not spit it out, did not lose a single piece, but continued to jump around shaking her head and frantically moving her tongue.

Once this bite had painstakingly made it to her belly, she continued the charade until her portion was gone. The process took about three minutes. She then ran off to get cold water and out to play.

Ally and I laughed and sat for the next 20 minutes and enjoyed every bite of the potato.

I began to think about how much I enjoyed the sweet potato. The preparation and cooling down took two hours before I could actually eat it. Most times when I crave something sweet, I open my snack drawer and eat a Milky Way. I open and eat in about three minutes. Then it is gone and I think, “That’s it?”

Comparing my sweet potato to Milky Way, I prefer the sweet potato. Sure it takes longer to prepare and eat. The overall satisfaction is greater.

We are told through the scriptures and church leaders to work hard all the days of our life and to enjoy the process.

This is true when we can see beyond the immediate gratification and truly choose something superior. When I choose to practice my craft, and learn more about it and work hard the end result is better than rushing to publish and having the readers find multiple errors.

My younger daughter was in too much of a hurry. She did not slow down and enjoy the sweetness and essence of the root. Instead, she was burned.