Itches

I remember as a kid I hated mosquito bites more than anything! Anytime I would get bit I would spend the next two or three days scratching. It drove me insane because scratching would just make the itch worse, but I couldn't keep from doing it. It felt good at first, but after scratching it would just get worse and I would feel like I needed to keep scratching. Since that time I have learned to ignore the bites and eventually they will go away, or at least get to the point that it isn't hard to not scratch anymore.

 

Addictions are the same way. We all get an itch (to indulge in something), and we have to decide to ignore it, or to scratch it. If you ignore it, it will go away. If you scratch (or indulge) it will satisfy you for a moment, and then the "itch" will come back stronger and be harder to ignore. No matter how much you indulge, the addiction wont be eased. You are taken captive one "scratch" at a time. The only way to become free is to break the addiction.

Elder M. Russell Ballard said, "Satan and his minions have their lures all around us, hoping that we will falter and take his flies so he can reel us in with counterfeit means. He uses addiction to steal away agency."

We have many mosquito bites on us. Sometimes we will get rid of one, and other times we will get bit again.  We can all learn to hate our addictions just like I hated mosquito bites. We can learn how to ignore them, and we can become free from their power over us. A life free of addiction is a life of happiness.