Hollow Heart

I had an English professor in college who talked a lot about citing sources and ‘giving credit where credit was due’ and that came to mind as I pondered today about gratitude.  I mentioned a couple of posts ago that my folks dropped by for a visit; well, they came bearing gifts of the best kind:

Boxes and Boxes of perfect Idaho potatoes!

Their gift (which I will be handing out like hotcakes to neighbors and friends) made me recall something I had learned on the farm I would like to share with you.

I am originally from Southeastern Idaho which is where I met my husband Blaine while we were both attending school at BYU-Idaho.  As we dated during our time there, he learned that I grew up working on my family’s farm driving trucks and tractors and I think that this was a main selling point for him and his family who happen to also be involved with farming because I spent our first married summer cutting hay in one of my father-in-law’s swathers and subsequent summers doing similar tasks.  

The revolving topics around my family’s dinner table growing up seemed to be politics, people, and potatoes.  See, my Dad decided to take up the hobby of raising spuds along with hay, grain, and corn
so I spent most of my falls in high school and college cutting fourth crop hay, driving potato truck or working at the cellar sorting and piling potatoes.  There is no such thing as a plain potato in our house.  I can tell you the defining characteristics of a russet versus a norkotah and how soil composition and moisture levels will affect growth.  Out of this treasure trove of knowledge I was so blessed to gain came exposure to something most of you have probably heard about called ‘hollow heart’. 
From a technical standpoint, hollow heart is a physiological disorder in the tuber, or potato that “is characterized by a star shape hollow in the center”, so basically the center of your spud is brown.  This disorder makes potatoes unattractive and can reduce repeat sales. Severe hollow heart can negatively impact the quality and result in shipments not making grade. However, it isn’t reported as harmful and does not affect taste or nutrition.
Fascinating, right. So what causes this condition and what in the world does this have to do with gratitude?  I think a parallel can be drawn between the development of hollow heart in a potato and ingratitude in our own lives. 
Hollow heart incidence arises when growing conditions abruptly change during the season. This may occur when the potato plants recover too quickly after a period of environmental or nutritional stress. So as the potato tuber begins to grow rapidly, the pith can die and/or pull apart leaving a void in the center.  (info. Taken from Hutchinson, Chad M.;  HS945, Horticultural Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Publication date: August 2003. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs197)

How many times in the Book of Mormon do we see the Lord’s people go through a refiner’s fire, followed by a rapid growth in their prosperity and then subsequently develop pride causing them to rebel. Helaman said it far better:

And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him. Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity. (Helaman 12:1-2)

Like our aforementioned potatoes,  ostensibly there isn’t a noticeable difference between one who feels gratitude and one who does not, and ironically the last thing we offer to God is the only thing he really wants—OUR HEART. From 2 Nephi 27:25 

Forasmuch as this people draw near unto me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men—

The Savior taught the Nephites: No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.

The meaning of this scripture always seemed fairly obvious to me, but the application in my own life has been somewhat vague...until I noticed a cross-reference to Hosea 10:2 which reads: There heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty. . .

It has been said that, "A house divided against itself cannot stand".  Our heart's desires cannot be divided and remain. You can fool yourself, and others but you cannot fool God. 

1 Samuel 16:7  for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

True gratitude does not arise from fear, but faith in and love for a Heavenly Father who allows us to daily dip from the well whose “water quenches our spiritual thirst, and springs up in us unto eternal life.”(Paraphrased John 4:14)  Interestingly enough, what tends to prevent hollow heart in potatoes can prevent ingratitude in us: consistent nourishment.  Just as consistent soil moisture, nutrient balance, and seed spacing inhibits hollow heart, daily consistent nourishment from prayer, scripture study, and gospel observance can prevent a hard heart and a stiff neck.

God doesn’t need our gratitude.  We need it.  Said the Greek philosopher Epictetus, “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Permit me to share with you a poem I wrote entitled:  While I Said My Prayers

My heart beats perfectly over 100,000 times a day,

2 million working parts in my eye coordinate without delay

200 muscles are employed for every step I gain

By nerves 170 mph pulses travel to my brain

Did any of this occur to me

while I said my morning prayers?

Or was I more concerned about

sharing with the Lord my cares.

Everyday my body produces 300 billion cells

And my nose alone recalls 50,000 different smells

The thigh bones that I use to walk are stronger than concrete

In 24 hours 23,040 breaths my lungs complete.

But did this enter in my mind

while I said my morning prayers?

Or do I as the hypocrite

Tritely put on airs.

3 bones the size of a penny help me to hear sound

While 43 muscles collaborate to pull off a single frown

10,000 taste buds on my tongue let me savor food

Red blood cells last for 120 days after they debut.

So why did none of this come up

while I said my morning prayers?

Perhaps with God my focus has drifted

from maintenance to repairs.

How fragile are the tabernacles

that house our spirits here

And how quickly I've forgotten

that it all can disappear.

Our days on earth are numbered

and time keeps ebbing on

May I be less guilty of ingratitude

with every passing dawn.

Have you ever noticed that you have to be actively obeying a law to gain true understanding about why and how to keep it?  We have to demonstrate faith to develop faith, show charity to become charitable, and express gratitude to develop gratitude.  I testify that developing an attitude of gratitude saved my life.  It is the road less traveled, but it will make ALL the difference.  We are living during a dark and difficult time, but we have the light of our Savior to look to, and as we allow his light to shine through us, we will bring those who sit in darkness to feel of the warmth the gospel brings.