Knowing vs Doing

I find myself having this conversation with my teenager lately:

Me : Little C, please empty the wastebaskets.

L.C. :Okay, Mom.

5 minutes later

Me : Um, the wastebaskets need to be emptied. Please get on it.

L.C. : Yes, I know. I'll do it.

15 minutes later

Me : Honey, you still haven't emptied the wastebaskets. 

L.C. : Okay, okay, I'll do it.

....more time passes...

Me: Empty the wastebaskets.

L.C. : Mom, I know. I will. Okay?

And then the speech begins.

Me: I know, you know. And you say you will. But I see NO Doing. It does very little good to KNOW you should accomplish something without actually trying to DO something about it. 

L.C. : I know.

....minutes pass

Me: Your phone is confiscated until I see more progress in the emptying of the wastebaskets department.

And Little C completes the chore moments later.

He had to be chastened. That's so lame to my mom brain. Discipline is exhausting (and I'm tired yo) but necessary.

I want him to REMEMBER this moment and the consequence of  him "not DOING" and next time DO a little better.

And I know one day he'll get there, maybe when he's 27... but I know he'll arrive. So I keep trying.

I can't help but wonder if this is how our Father in Heaven feels about us. 

Except the task is much greater. Even though we KNOW right from wrong and have learned about Him and His ways from birth, one of our greatest flaws as humans beings is that sometimes we forget about Him all together. 

In Helaman 12: 3 it reads, "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people..... they will not remember Him." 

I read this verse during my religion class on Thursday and I felt my heart fall. How sad would I be if my children forgot about me? Forgot all the hugs, laughs, dances in the kitchen, stories being read. What if they forgot about how much I loved them and what I had striven so hard e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y. to teach their little selves about the gospel of Jesus Christ? 

In Helaman chapter 11 in the "seventy and sixth year", after the Lord had heavily chastened the people by famine due to their wickedness, they finally remember Him. In verse 17 he lifts His anger due to Nephi's pleadings and the repentant hearts of the people and they begin to flourish in the land. In verse 18 it says they did "rejoice and glorify God".
 - In the seventy and seventh year they  had peace.
 - Seventy and eighth year there were minor contentions over doctrine.
-Seventy and ninth year "there began to be much strife"
 - Eightieth year the Gadianton robbers begin to surface again.
 - Eighty first year the robbers create great fear among the people and they remembered their God.
 - Eighty and second year, "they began again to forget the Lord their God."
 - Eighty and third year, "they began to wax strong in iniquity."
 - Eighty and fourth year, "they did not mend their ways." 
 - Eight and fifth year, "they did wax stronger and stronger in their pride, and in their wickedness; and thus they were ripening again for destruction."

A brief nine years had passed and they were back exactly to where they were before. People fall so quickly.
But why?
They had KNOWN.
They had KNOWN God and glorified in Him.
But they didn't Do.

In a very stark contrast the brothers, Nephi and Lehi, continued to prosper in the gospel at this time because they, "sought His will... and sought to keep His commandments." They were like me speaking to Little C -Come on guys, get busy. Please remember the Lord and do His will. And maybe the people responded, "we know, we know. We'll do it, okay?" Until one day they'd put if off for so long that they convinced themselves that what they had once known wasn't true anymore and forgot the Lord altogether.

Which makes me wonder what do I KNOW, but am not necessarily DOING? Because I never want to forget what I Know now. I want to always be found DOING.