Thursday, June 10, 2010

Can You Hear Me?



The other day I noticed that I was picking up someone else's signal on the baby monitor. They also had a baby and several other kids, along with a barking dog. I heard familiar phrases from the mother like, "Could you put your hand on the baby so he doesn't roll off the bed?" "Okay, let's go downstairs now." "Please stop that."

I listened for a few minutes, wondering what neighbor it could be, and thinking about this odd little window (or ear, rather) into their world. I'm sure they didn't know I was listening in. I changed the channel on the monitor, but kept thinking about it. What if people could tune into my house at any given time? What would they hear?


Our Father in Heaven does hear and see everything. I hope more often than not, He hears laughter over tears, singing more often than short-tempered orders, conversations rather than the TV, and kind words over teasing and reprimands. I'm not a perfect mom all the time, but I sure try hard!

It reminds me of the wonderful song we learned in Primary last year,

Painting by Greg Olsen

"If the Savior Stood Beside Me".

If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do?
Would I think of His commandments and try harder to be true?
Would I follow His example? Would I live more righteously,
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

If the Savior stood beside me, would I say the things I say?
Would my words be true and kind if He were never far away?
Would I try to share the gospel? Would I speak more reverently
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

This little experience has made me more mindful of my daily words and actions, especially with my children. I'm recommitting that whenever anyone is "tuned into" our home, they are hearing something good.

6 comments:

laurenthequeen said...

I think I would get an epic FAIL on this one today. I'm embarrassed and no one was even around to "tune in". I need a do- over.

Sarah said...

Ugh, what an awful day for me to read this...today was a doosey. I pray that tomorrow everything won't rub me wrong.

(nice post, though)

Golden Girl said...

I love that song! Thanks for the reminder.

Plowgian Page said...

What a fabulous post Amy. I feel like I could pick this very example for a YW lesson... or even better, for FHE. That's it--I'm using it tomorrow. That song happens to be Emma's favorite primary song. Thank you for helping me with the start of our FHE!

Dianna said...

Great post! We all need this reminder. You should ask Sandy Oehler about how some people in the neighborhood were picking up her intercom transmissions.

Trish and Matt said...

A friend of mine has a video monitor, and apparently you can pick up other people on those, too! She had hers in the master bedroom when the baby was little and was quite embarrassed one day when her neighbor called to tell her she could see EVERYTHING. I won't go into any more detail. YIKES!