Temptation

"Mom, why is our last name what it is?" *A* asked one day. I explained and that was that.


But, what's in a name?


One day at the splash pad, *E* found a friend--a girl about her age. So I gently reminded her to ask her name and age. The girl stated her name, but then told her that she could not tell her age because *E* was a stranger. What the heck does the girls' age have to do with anything? I should think giving out my name would be more of an issue.


And then I was looking at a blog yesterday to discover a giveaway. {I should start doing giveaways. But no one would want my stuff :o) } The gal was giving away custom-made onesies with each childs' name spelled out in fabric-y goodness. I was reminded of something I read once warning parents not to put their child's name on their clothing, as it would give predators license to lure the child away by name.

And now I tie this all in to blogging. How important is it to keep our identities secret as we chant out our life stories on this which we call the World Wide Web. Are we giving those sick-o's out there license to find us, seek us out and lure us away? I shall be going back through all 211 posts and changing our names. This may take a while.

*sighs*

Something cute like one Mom does over at My Charming Kids {dot} net, or just referring to each person by the initial of their first name.



I shall now relate this lengthy post of my incessant ramblings to my beliefs. This past Monday I posted something very vague on my facebook wall about an experience I had had that night. Now, as I look back I ask myself,


"Self--why did you do that? You know you hate when people do that. There was no reason to cause the people you know to be worried enough to call you up and ask if you were okay. Oh self."


As I contemplate struggles in my friends' lives and, as an outsider, look objectively at their choices, I realize I have come to know myself in the process. So I have learned to recognize some of my more dangerous weaknesses. The type of weaknesses that are tearing my friends' marriages and lives apart.


We all have weaknesses.

But, I have learned as I have read talks by beloved apostles, that just because we are tempted to do something does not mean we are bound to do it. Thats when it is time to say:

"I have been given this opportunity to better myself by suppressing the urge to succomb to this temptation. It is not permission to give in and repent later."

I know I may be driving anyone who reads this insane as you try to decipher what my weakness is.

That is not my point.

My challenge to you all is to analyze yourselves, come to terms with something you struggle with (a tendency to talk about your intimate life with people other than your spouse, a tendency to watch a pornographic movie because it is so easily at your disposal, a tendency to gossip about others, a tendency to be attracted to someone who you are not married to or someone of the same gender, a tendency to use foul or offensive language, etc.) and suppress the temptations to act on those tendencies. Temptation is not sin. We cannot control the things that come into our minds to tempt us; but we do have complete control over what we choose to do with the temptation.


My previous Relief Society president left me this comment earlier today. I just loved the title and I would love to read the book.
There's a new book out by Wendy Ulrich: "Weakness is Not Sin: The Liberating Distinction that Awakens Our Strengths."

Weakness is not sin. That is powerful. I beat myself up all night Monday and the morning after until Bro. Mo. came and held me, urging me to take it to the Lord in prayer. What a strong, powerful man I have married! Physically and spiritually. He told me he had almost asked me if I wanted a Priesthood blessing.


Of course, going before the Lord was the last thing I thought of doing after falling prey to the adversary. He had "lured" me in just as a predator would have done had my name been printed on my shirt. Because he knows me and knows my name just as if I had it spelled out across my chest.

I know where my snares lie as I tip-toe around them in this life. The trick is to not even go near the trap.