Have you heard the folktale “Someone Sees You”? Here it is as recorded in The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett…

Once upon a time a man decided to sneak into his neighbor’s fields and steal some wheat. “If I take just a little from each field, no one will notice,” he told himself, “but it will add up to a nice pile of wheat for me.” So he waited for the darkest of night, when thick clouds lay over the moon, he crept out of his house. He took his youngest daughter with him.

“Daughter,” he whispered, “you must stand guard, and call out if anyone sees me.”

The man stole into the first field to begin reaping, and before long the child called out, “Father, someone sees you!”

The man looked all around, but he saw no one, so he gathered his stolen wheat and moved on to the second field.

“Father, someone sees you!” the child cried again.

The man stopped and looked all around, but once again he saw no one. He gathered more wheat, and moved to a third field.

A little while passed and the daughter cried out, “Father, someone sees you!”

Once more the man stopped his work and looked in every direction, but he saw no one at all, so he bundled his wheat and crept into the last field.

“Father, someone sees you!” the child called again.

The man stopped his reaping, looked all around, and once again saw no one. “Why in the world do you keep saying someone sees me?” he angrily asked his daughter. “I’ve looked everywhere and I don’t see anyone.”

“Father,” murmured the child, “Someone sees you from above.”                                          (The Book of Virtues, p. 604)

Let us remember that our deeds are never completely unseen. Consider the following passages…

1. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3).
2. “O LORD, You have searched me and know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it all together…Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? …If I say, ‘surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You” (Psalm 139:1-4,7,11-12).
3. “I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in judgment (Matthew 12:36).
4. “For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
5. “God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel” (Romans 2:16).
6. “Some men’s sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some follow later. Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden” (1 Timothy 5:24-25).

May we live each day as if we are doing all that we in the presence of God. We are. One day we will give account for the things we have done (2 Corinthians 5:10).