Sweet Potato Pie is a Side Dish

I love sweet potatoes.  They might be the best vegetable in the world.  Heck, “sweet” is in the name!  Even with this honeyed earthiness, this hit of natural sugar, yams definitely are vegetables.  So why should sweet potato pie be a dessert, just because it’s sweet?  In my book, it’s not; come to my house for ham (or pork tenderloin, or turkey, or sometimes even chicken) and sweet potato pie is on the menu.  As a side dish, naturally.

I love how this lowly orange earthapple can be two things at once.  (Schrodinger’s comestible?)  It’s a vegetable, but it’s like candy.  Cooked in a crust, it can be a dessert, but you can (and I do!) serve it as part of the main meal.  Whether you consider it a dessert or an accompaniment is a matter of perspective. 

It’s not just the nature of this delicious dish that changes based on perspective.  Sometimes a different viewpoint may be needed to reduce an apparent mountain to a molehill.  For example, it used to make me nuts that whomever in our family took out the garbage on trash day did not always put a new bag in the garage trash can.  Instead of being happy that the trash got out on time, I focused on the fact that when I went to throw something away, I had to stop and get a new bag before I could toss the stinky refuse.  Grrrr!

But then I determined to change my perspective.  I can’t control others’ behavior, but I can control mine.  Instead of being upset, I choose to be thankful that the trash is out of the house in time for the weekly pick up, and I don’t have to lift a finger to make that happen.  Further, I have resolved that the bag replacement job should be mine.  So if the bag hasn’t been replaced, that is on me.  And I can fix that!

With this change in mindset, I eliminated a source of frustration from my life.  I also realized that I could make a similar attitude shift in all sorts of situations, from little things like irksome clerks in the checkout line to bigger issues like a friend who says something hurtful to me.  Instead of giving in to annoyance or anger, I transform my point of view.  Maybe the clerk is grumpy because he is worried about a family member.  Maybe my friend was hurt by something I said and was striking back out of her own pain.  Maybe if I look at the situation through another’s glasses, I will be more understanding.  If I am slower to judge, and quicker to offer grace, I will be less exasperated and more at peace—and hopefully that attitude will help prevent, rather than create, further discord. 

So now, every time I cook sweet potatoes (which, let’s face it, is often, given their status as the most delicious superfood available), I think about what a difference perspective can make.  Whether you think of sweet potato pie as a dessert or a side dish, the food hasn’t changed—it’s your discernment that has.