If someone who’s opinion you cared very much about was to randomly listen in to a part of your day without you having a clue, what would they hear? Thanks to cell phone screens coming unlocked and randomly having buttons pushed this has actually happened to me, a couple of times! The last was a few weeks ago. My mom and I are extremely close, in spite of the fact we live over 2,000 miles apart. We usually talk for an hour every weekday and because of this her number is usually the first on my “last called” list.

When I called her the day after Easter she told me, “You called us yesterday.”

I replied, “Yes, I know.”

“Oh, it was after you called the first time. You must have had your phone in your pocket because after it rang I picked up and I could hear you singing “He Lives.” I tried to talk but you couldn’t hear me so I just called the rest of the family and we all listened to you sing.” She explained.

Oopps! LoL! While I was rather embarrassed by the whole thing, my Mom had thought it was so neat that I was singing a hymn that she gave a testimony about it that night.  How glad I was that I was singing a hymn when I accidentally called her! Because the truth is that most days of the week you don’t find me singing hymns out loud I’m afraid. I was doing it that day because it was Easter and we hadn’t gotten to sing some of my favorite Easter hymns in church. Amber loves to listen to me sing (yey for having one fan!) so I was singing to her to keep her entertained while I cooked dinner. I very easily could have called during something I would have been ashamed to have my mom listen in on, like me nagging Bob, being short tempered with Amber, or watching a movie with questionable scenes or language.

As I thought about that it occurred to me that although we nearly often act as though no one can hear us in our own homes, there is always a listener. Sometimes it could be someone who you accidentally dialed on your phone, but more often it’s your children and your spouse. And always, always God is listening. If I would have been ashamed to have my Mom listen in on some of the things I say in my house, shouldn’t I be even more ashamed when I realize that God does hear all of that? The whole Bible, especially Proverbs and James, have a lot to say about our speech and our tongue.

“Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” James 3:10

So this week, be careful what you say and make sure it’s a whole lot of the first part of that verse, and none of the second.

Because you never know who is listening!