A teenager (no names) recently asked me how to make a baked potato into a new potato and although I thought it was very funny ( and a bit scary) at the time, I have been reflecting on it quite a bit. Because we can't. They are grown for two very different purposes and I enjoy both in their own way. 

Its a bit like us too. We can't be made into something we are not. Do I wish I was more practical? Absolutely. Then I wouldn't set off for the supermarket with a list, get distracted by coffee with friends on the way, leave the list at home and have to guess ( wrongly) what was on it, disappointing husband back home who was organised enough to write the list in the first place.

However it might also mean that I couldn't enjoy the creative things I do. So perhaps its being happy with what we are, noting our strengths and gifts and understanding that they have been given to us for a reason. Baked potatoes should be proud to be baked and new potatoes proud to be new. It would be a very dull world otherwise.

"God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:

wise counsel

clear understanding

simple trust

healing the sick

miraculous acts

proclamation

distinguishing between spirits

tongues

interpretation of tongues.

All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when."

1 Corinthians 12 vs 4-11