When I get up in the middle of the night, I look out the windows.  I'm looking for the bear.  Before we built the deer fence around our place I often saw deer in the yard at night, and sometimes a cow or a bull or an elk.  The fence stopped those nocturnal visits, but the fence doesn't stop the bear.  We know that he's been there because of the piles of manure that he's left.  He comes to raid our orchard.  He loves the plums and the apples, and he left evidence of his presence right in our back yard.

Until the middle of October (2019), there was a field of corn between us and the woods.  The bear was comfortable about approaching the house under the cover of the corn; but once the corn was harvested, he was afraid to cross that open area, and has not been back.

That is remarkable.  The bear knows that there is fruit hanging from the trees and littering the ground, and yet he is able to resist the temptation to come.  He loves plums.  He knows they're there.  But he rightly assumes that the possibility exists that Danny might be waiting there with a gun, so he fights off the temptation, and he doesn't come.

I admire his strength and his foresight.  He's smarter than many humans.  How many humans have a draw in their lives like plums are to the bear, and they aren't able to fight off the temptation, even though they know that to succumb might be fatal.

"Just once won't hurt," they hopefully say to themselves.  "No one will know," they say.  "I can get away with it this one last time, and then I'll quit."

"...And thus the devil whispereth in their ears, and cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell."  (Verses 21 and 22 of 2 Nephi intermingled).

Mr. Bear will always love plums.  He's not going to move far away to get away from the temptation.  All his life he is going to know that there are plums to be had in our orchard, right in his own neighborhood, and all his life he is going to have to fight down the temptation to come.

But Mr. Bear has the strength to resist his temptations, and so do you.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:  but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

The bear can bear it, and so can you.

I really like the Gary Larson cartoon of the big lady passing the chocolate candy store.  She's holding on to the lamp post outside the store with both hands while the hurricane force of her temptation has lifted her off her feet and is pulling her horizontally toward the door like a big wind or a powerful magnet would do.

But she's holding on.  If she'll just hold on until the temptation passes, she'll be better able to resist the next time.

Next time, if she's wise, she will make sure to not even go near the chocolate store.  Elaine Dalton, former Young Women general president, advised us to "Stand in holy places, and do not even go near those environments or music, media, or associations that might cause you to lose the companionship of the Holy Ghost."  (Ensign, May 2013, 123).

That is sage advice, and we would all do well to heed it.

Gary Larson's cartoon figure of the lady blowing like a flag toward the door of the chocolate shop was similarly described by Elder Richard G. Scott in the October 2007 general conference.  He said:  "A knowledge of truth is of little value unless we apply it in making correct decisions.  Consider for a moment a man, heavily overweight, approaching a bakery display.  In his mind are these thoughts:  The doctor told you not to eat any more of that.  It's not good for you.  It just gives you momentary gratification of appetite.  You'll feel uncomfortable the rest of the day after it.  You've decided not to have any more.  But then he hears himself say, 'I'll have two of those almond twists and a couple of those chocolate doughnuts.  One more time won't hurt.  I'll do it just once more, and this will be the last time.'"  (Richard G. Scott, Ensign, November 2007, 92).

Have you ever lied to yourself like that?

We all have temptations.  Having temptations is part of mortality, and is not a sin.  Acting on those temptations is where sin comes into play.

Elder Boyd K. Packer taught:  "In the Church, one is not condemned for tendencies or temptations.  One is held accountable for transgression.  If you do not act on unworthy persuasions, you will neither be condemned nor be subject to Church discipline."  (Ensign, November 2003, 26).

He also said:  "[Temptations] may be a struggle from which you will not be free in this life.  If you do not act on temptations, you need feel no guilt."  (Ensign, November 2000, 74).

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said:  "Above all, start by separating yourself from people, materials, and circumstances that will harm you.  As those battling something like alcoholism know, the pull of proximity can be fatal.  So too in moral matters.  Like Joseph, in the presence of Potiphar's wife, just run—run as far away as you can get from whatever or whoever it is that beguiles you.  And please, when fleeing the scene of temptation, do not leave a forwarding address."  (Ensign, May 2010, 45).

"One of the purposes of the scriptures is to show us how righteous people respond to temptation and evil.  In short, they avoid it!  Joseph ran from Potiphar's wife.  Lehi took his family and left Jerusalem.  Mary and Joseph fled into Egypt to escape Herod's wicked plot....[Heavenly Father] will help us know whether to fight, flee, or go with the flow..."  (Robert D. Hales, Ensign, November 2013, 44).

Elder Robert D. Hales was a pilot in the air force.  He said that he learned this principle:  "Never deliberately fly into a thunderstorm...Instead, fly around it, take another route, or wait for the storm to clear before landing."  (Ibid).

Temptations are all around us.  We're living in the last days.  When my generation was young, if we wanted to get into trouble, we had to go searching for it.  "Not anymore!  Today temptation finds you!  Please remember that," young people.  Satan desires to have you.  (See Robert D. Hales, Ensign, May 2013, 48).

As you lose yourself in service, Satan's temptations lose power in your life.  (See Richard G. Scott, Ensign, November 2013, 84).

As we go to the temple, President Monson promised, "we will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome each temptation."  (Ensign, May 2011, 93).

Do you suppose that there could be a divine purpose in weaknesses and temptations?  I suspect so.  Emerson said that we gain the strength of the temptation we resist.

That was backed up scripturally when Moroni quoted the Lord in Ether 12:27:

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble:  and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

I get three things from that:  One, a purpose of my weaknesses is to make me humble.  Two, is that through the humility that I thus gain, I will come to rely on the Lord, and will learn that with His help I can do anything.  And, three, is that where I have a weakness, I am expected to turn it into a strength.

Don't beat yourself up about your temptations; but for heaven's sake, and for your sake, and for your family's sake don't succumb to them.

"What win I, if I gain the thing I seek?                                                                                                                                  A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.                                                                                                                    Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week,                                                                                                                     Or sells eternity to get a toy?"

--William Shakespeare

I have been a patriarch now for a little more than half a year.  I have given 36 patriarchal blessings in that time.  I am amazed on several levels:

One, is that the system works, and that I can do it!

Two, is how palpable the Spirit is during each blessing.  I don't let myself think ahead about what I might say in the blessing.  That goes against everything else that I've ever done in any calling or in any job.  In everything else I have to be prepared and to know what I'm going to do, how I'm going to do it, and what I'm going to say before I actually perform the task.  I go through each step in my mind before I do the job.  With patriarchal blessings, I can't do that.  The words and the thoughts must come from the Spirit, and not from me.

And three, is the amazing quality of the young people who come to me to receive their blessings.  In the world I see despair, deterioration, and deepening darkness.  I see confusion and evil, especially in the young.  But the quality of the young people who come for their patriarchal blessings leaves me gasping.  These are bright, happy youth who are going to save the world!  Their futures are incredibly light-filled and bright.  They don't know that.  They think that they're just normal, everyday youth with normal insecurities, worries, and problems.  Not so!

These young people are surrounded with a glow.  Literally.  As one young man left my home, I thought, "What an outstanding young man!  He's going to accomplish great things.  I need to remember him, and watch him.  He has no equal."  But the next week I had the same thoughts with another young man.  And the next.  I remember that there were six in a row.  I can't keep them all straight in my mind.

And the young women!  I think, "Wow, if only I had a son that I could match up with this girl.  She's outstanding.  What a terrific wife, mother, and leader she is going to be!"  And there is just one after the other.  The impressions they leave on me are uplifting and inspirational, and fill me with hope.

I repeat:  These young people glow!  There is not a doubt but what they are special spirits, reserved to come forth in this day of darkness.  They will be successful.  They will save themselves, their families, and the world.  They're strong.  They're special.  There is no better word to describe them.  Each and every one has the power to resist the temptations that the adversary places before them.  They will succeed.  The best has been saved for the last.