"Don't Even Think About It"

Another thing I got for my birthday, beside the good feeling that I had been at least somewhat productive that day, was a pair of bicycle goggles to keep wind, dust, and debris out of my eyes when I'm biking, which is really helpful, because I ride my bike a lot. Thanks, Mom!

This morning, I read a small part of President Deiter F. Uchtdorf's talk, Are You Sleeping Through the Restoration?, because I felt that I had barely scratched the surface when I blogged about it and the Doctrine and Covenants a few days ago. During this rereading, my attention was caught by a story that President Uchtdorf had shared about a tour of Air Force One that he and President Monson had been given.

Several years ago, President Thomas S. Monson and I were offered an opportunity to tour Air Force One—the magnificent aircraft that transports the president of the United States. 

There were painstaking security checks by the Secret Service, and I smiled a little as agents searched our dear prophet prior to boarding. 

Then the pilot in command invited me to take the captain’s seat. It was a remarkable experience to again sit at the helm of a wonderful flying machine like the kind I had flown for so many years. Memories of flights across oceans and continents filled my heart and mind. I envisioned exciting takeoffs and landings at airports all over the world. 

Almost unconsciously, I placed my hands on the four throttles of the 747. Just then, a beloved and unmistakable voice came from behind—the voice of Thomas S. Monson. 

“Dieter,” he said, “don’t even think about it.”

This story speaks to me because it illustrates (from the eyes of a Prophet, no less) how temptations can slip into our minds without our even realizing it. As Elder Holland said in April 2010, "Like thieves in the night, unwelcome thoughts can and do seek entrance to our minds." And, being as sneaky as thieves, those thoughts often get inside our heads long before we're conscious of them being there, but Elder Holland also gave us clear instructions on what to do with evil thoughts, once we've detected them: "Throw the rascals out!"

Whether we want them in our heads or not, tempting thoughts are going to worm their way in there. We have little, if any, control over that. What we can and must control is what we do once we've noticed those thoughts are there. Will we "throw open the door, serve them tea and crumpets, and then tell them where the silverware is kept," or will we follow the advice of our Prophet: "Don't even think about it."

While we may not be able to stop tempting thoughts from entering our minds, we can drive them out simply by thinking about anything else. Replace evil thoughts with good ones, negative with positive, tempting thoughts with uplifting ones. It is well within our power to control what we are thinking about when we make a direct effort to concentrate on something, and if we choose to think on things of righteousness, all unrighteous thoughts will be forced out of our minds. That is what we must do when we find ourselves faced with temptation. We must learn to control our thoughts, but if we can master our thoughts, we will find that we have mastered ourselves, and self-mastery is definitely one of the purposes of life.

It can be difficult to be on guard all the time - It may even be impossible. Tempting thoughts are going to get in now and again. President Uchtdorf and even Christ Himself were tempted. But when we find such thoughts in our minds, it's important that we don't let them linger there. Rather, we should follow the counsel of the Prophet, and "don't even think about [them]."