Watching Ourselves

"But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not." (Mosiah 4:30). I’ve always read the phrase “watch yourselves” with the same meaning as “You better watch out.” Like, if you don’t be careful about what you say and do and think, then you will perish. And I think this is definitely part of it. But we can also watch or observe with the intent to learn. So, in this case, we are watching our thoughts and words and deeds with the intent to learn and grow and improve. King Benjamin isn’t threatening us that God is going to smite us if we aren’t more careful. He’s telling us that we will perish if we don’t learn and grow from our mistakes. We aren’t meant to watch ourselves so that we never make mistakes, but rather to watch and observe how our thoughts and our words and our actions led to us harming ourselves physically or emotionally or spiritually and see if we can’t figure out a way of thinking and speaking and acting that will not lead to that pain and destruction. If we do not watch ourselves and learn from our mistakes, then we are doomed to repeat them again and again until we perish in misery and despair. But if we watch ourselves, and we learn from and repent of our mistakes, and if we observe the Commandments of God and continue in faith, then we will not perish but will thrive in this world and inherit all that the Father hath in the world to come.