Leading Me Carefully Down

2 Ne. 28: 21
"And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell."

When the liar cannot get to us with the big things, he gets to us with the little ones. He gets to us through small cracks we have chosen to forget, or grains of memory we have calloused over. He lies to us, by telling us that we do not deserve what we have. That we are not worthy of the people in our lives. That we are bad and dirty because of our past choices and mistakes. He lies to us, because he cannot tell us the truth. There is no truth in him.
We not only deserve all the things we have, our Father will pour out more on us each day. So much that we cannot hold it all. Our cups runneth over. We are worthy of the people in our lives. They are not perfect either, and we need each other to get through this life. We can and must help each other to reach our full potential.
There has only been one person who lived on this earth that did not sin, his name is Jesus Christ. We have all done bad things and have felt dirty. Yet, through the Atonement of Christ and the blessing of baptism, we can repent of our past and be made clean. Every day we can recommit ourselves to do the best we can.
Yes, we will stumble and fall. Yes, we will make mistakes and sin. Yes, we will have unclean thoughts and feelings toward others. But we choose whether or not to dwell on those thoughts, feelings and actions. Or to nip them in the bud and choose to see ourselves as our Father in Heaven sees us, his beautiful child.
The liar has to know us in order to lead us carefully down. If he can't us with the big things, he must study us to see where the cracks in our armor are. Where those hidden memories linger. He must then carefully and slowly enter in.
Like slinking through a barely open door. First he just peeks through the crack to see what's inside. One memory we're not sure if we want to let go of. Then he slips one toe in to see if we will slam it shut. We dwell on that memory while driving or before we fall asleep. If we do not shut the door, he sneaks in another toe. We elaborate on that memory and remember how it felt. Then part of his foot, then his whole foot. We think about the people involved in our hidden memory and wonder what they're doing. He waits.
Did we notice him coming in? We think about finding our old friend. No, we did not notice his sneaking, in comes his ankle and part of a leg. Now it's much harder to close the door. He's working on our old friend as well, maybe a chance run-in. His knee and thigh push the door wider open. He is almost inside. We start to look at our life today and it doesn't seem as fun, as adventurous as we used to be. Now his hand has reached around and grabbed the doorknob.
We start to envy our old life and fantasize about what it could be again. He's halfway through the door, he's looking at us. What does he see? He sees us sitting in a dark room, holding the little hidden memory in our cold hands. Does it give us light? Does it give us warmth? No. It gives us nothing but regret and envy. He stands in the doorway. We start to wonder. He takes a step inside. Why are we thinking about stuff like this? He stops and waits, biding his time.
We have had many opportunities to choose along this path. It is much harder to force him out the door when he is already a step inside. Slamming his toe would have been much easier. What to do now? We know that these thoughts and desires do not lead to anywhere we want to go. What do we do? That's easy, fall to your knees. And shove him out the door, slam it in his face and say "Get behind me Satan, I make no room for you."
God will never leave us alone. He will never look down on us, or turn away from us. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much he sacrificed his first born Son so that we would not have to be sacrificed. We choose everyday how we want to live. How we want others to view us, and how we want to deal with lies. I say, slam the door, lock the deadbolt, slide the chain, put a chair under the knob, get a pitbull and shotgun and don't let that sneaking little liar in. Shoot him in the head and let the dog eat the rest.

I'm not going to let him lead me carefully down anymore.