Listen, Listen

Have you ever noticed something around your house that could potentially be dangerous, and thought that you should put it somewhere else, but dismissed the PROMPTING and thought, "Oh, it's fine."? Me too. Then I learned my lesson.

Once upon a time, there was a mother who was putting some clothes away in her little boys' closet. She noticed that at the top of the closet there was a can of paint. She had been working tirelessly off and on for a couple of months painting baseboards white. She was still not done so the can of paint was at the top of the closet for easy access. The thought, or rather prompting, came to her that she ought to take that can of paint from the very top of that closet and store it in the garage just in case an adventureous son attempted to retrieve it. "It's fine," she thought, "they'd never do such a thing."

A week later this mother was downstairs nursing her 8 week old baby and talking on the phone to a friend while her 4 year old and 2 1/2 year old sons played in their room. Earlier in the day, they had rigged up a slide using their mattress and were having a very fun time. She had snapped a picture of it because she thought it was very creative. Afterall, there isn't much else to do in Arizona during the summer. So she let them have their fun.

The little boys' bedroom was above the family room where the mother was talking on the phone. She remembers thinking "they are being so loud, they must really be having fun, maybe I should go check on them." So after a few minutes she set the baby down and went upstairs. She went to open the door, and it was locked. She could hear laughing, as she knocked for them to open. Since they didn't open it she got a key and opened it for herself. What she saw was quite horrifying and shocking. In fact, she was in such shock that she laughed. The 2 1/2 year old was on top of a dresser, head to toe in white paint. At that moment the 4 year old was sliding down the mattress also drenched in white paint. Apparently the paint aided in the speed of sliding. She absorbed what had happened and quickly called her mother before she did something she might later regret, if you know what I mean. Her mom advised her to stick them in a tub. The damage was more than she thought. Not only was the paint in their room, but they had gone into her bedroom and added their own artistic touches to her headboard and footboard and brand spankin' new duvet cover. Their father would be returning home shortly, so the mother thought it best if she prepped him for what awaited him upon his arrival home. Paint and tears, that's what. The end.





I wish now I would have taken pictures of them and everything else after I found them, but I just couldn't. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I cried for 2 weeks following this episode. I remember this experience every day because while painting my bed, one of them left a handprint on my Book of Mormon. It's my reminder to listen to the Spirit. Whenever I dismiss a prompting to do something because "that would never happen," I think, "yes it will!" So that's the lesson for this Thursday. Listen and just do it!