Step 11 of 14The watch goes on

Watchman on the Wall

Three little ones are sleepin' in the loft above the hearthBreathin' slow and dreamin' like there's nothin' dark on earthBut I've seen the thing that's comin' and I know it's drawin' closeSo I pull my coat around me and I climb up to my post

The world won't wait till they are grown, it's comin' for 'em nowSo I train 'em in the way they ought to go — I show 'em how

I'm the watchman on the wallAnd I'll never leave my postWhen the enemy comes creepin'For the ones I love the mostI will sound the horn to warn themI will stand there in the breachAnd I'll teach 'em how to fight itLong before it's in their reach

Every evenin' 'round the table, I open up the WordTeach 'em they're a child of God, the truest thing they've heardI tell 'em good from evil 'fore the world can twist it 'roundAnd I let 'em see me kneel, so they know where strength is found

Two thousand stripling warriors marched out without a doubtTheir mothers raised that faith in 'em and God brought 'em out

The Lord said that a watchman doesn't get to simply standHe sees the sword, he sounds the horn, or blood is on his handSo I'd rather lose my sleep a thousand nights up on this wallThan stand before my Father and say I never warned 'em at all

Now my boy's a grown man with little ones of his ownAnd I see his lantern burnin' on the wall above his homeThat's how I know I stood my watchAnd the watch goes on

The story

Three little ones are asleep in the loft above the hearth, breathing slow and dreaming like there's nothing dark on earth. Their father knows better. He's seen what's coming and he knows it's drawing close. So he pulls his coat around him and climbs up to his post. The world won't wait until they're grown. It's coming for them now.

That picture comes from Ezekiel. The Lord told him that a watchman's whole job is to see the sword coming and blow the trumpet to warn the people. And then He said something that ought to stop every parent cold: if the watchman sees the sword and doesn't sound the warning, and someone is lost, "his blood will I require at the watchman's hand." That's one of the heaviest accountability statements in all of scripture. The song doesn't soften it: I'd rather lose my sleep a thousand nights up on this wall than stand before my Father and say I never warned them at all.

In this dispensation the Lord made it just as plain. He told parents in Zion to teach their children "to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost," and "to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord." And if they don't, He said, "the sin be upon the heads of the parents." The world is already teaching our children who they are. It's telling them they're an accident, a body, a brand, a set of preferences. If the only voice telling them they are children of God is a Primary song on Sunday, they're outnumbered.

So what does keeping watch actually look like? The song answers that, and it's not complicated. Open the Word around the table in the evening. Teach them they're a child of God, the truest thing they've heard. Teach them good from evil before the world can twist it around. And let them see you kneel, so they know where strength is found. Nephi said it best: "we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ... that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." President Russell M. Nelson has asked us to remodel our homes into centers of gospel learning and to transform them into sanctuaries of faith. That's the wall.

The Book of Mormon shows us what it produces. Two thousand young men who had never fought before went out without fear, because "they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." And they said, "We do not doubt our mothers knew it." That faith wasn't built on the battlefield. It was built at home, years before.

And if you've stood your watch, and warned, and loved, and someone you love has walked away anyway, Ezekiel has a word for you too. To the watchman who warns, the Lord says, "thou hast delivered thy soul." You are not condemned for another person's choice. Keep loving them. Keep praying for them. Trust them to the Savior, who knows exactly where they are and who never stops watching over any of His sheep. The song ends with a grown son keeping a lantern burning on his own wall above his own home. The watch goes on. And to every young person reading this: you can stand watch too, for a brother, a sister or a friend.

Sources

Think about it

If the only voice telling the children in your life that they are children of God were yours, would they hear it often enough, and plainly enough, to believe it?

Tonight

Tell each of your children, or someone younger you love, "You are a child of God," and tell them one reason you believe it. If you can, kneel and pray with them.

Printable version for families and groups