PROVO — Hank R. Smith knows a thing or two about breaking up.
Three girls once broke up with him on the same day, Smith told more than 400 youths at Education Week on Aug. 17.
It was after his mission and he was having fun dating. There were several he had gone out with a few times.
When he talked with the first woman in the morning she said, "I really like you. You are way fun to hang out with. But I don't think this is going to work."
He met another woman for lunch and she said, "You are really fun to hang out with, but to be honest, I don't think it's going to work."
He had a dinner date that night and she said, "You are way fun to hang out with."
Well, you can probably guess the rest.
There are so many times that people need to break up with the world.
So many times people will say when they are breaking up, "It's not you, it's me."
But with the world, it's the other way around.
"Go to the world and say, 'You are way fun to hang out with, but it's not me, it's you,' " Smith, a seminary instructor, said.
Sometimes that can be tough.
But not tougher than the alternative.
Think of it like taking the yeast out of baked bread. Once the yeast is mixed with the ingredients for bread and baked, it has gone through a chemical change and can't be taken out, Smith said.
The body does a similar thing when it takes in food. The body can cleanse itself from contaminated food or drink.
"The mind does not throw up," Smith said. "The mind is an incredible recording device."
Once something like pornography, inappropriate music or other harmful things enter our mind, it stays. And like the yeast in the bread, it won't come out.
"Satan knows that eventually, we will figure it out that (addictive behaviors are) bad for us," Smith said. By then, it takes a lot of work to overcome.
"Nothing that God has us do is addictive," Smith said. There aren't fasting anonymous groups or people who are addicted to paying tithing.
Harmful behaviors not just feeding our mind but our spirits, too, as the world will eat us from the inside out.
"What does your spirit look like?" Smith asked. Is it well-fed from really praying and regular scripture study or is it starving?
"Break up with the things that are eating you from the inside out," he said.
e-mail: crappleye@desnews.com
More coverage online
For more articles about Campus Education Week speakers, go to MormonTimes.com. Among them are:
Being positive to your spouse.
Praying with sincerity.
Learning to bear the harsh realities of life.
Parents urged to text their teens.
Twelve ways to be more like Christ.