Ethan stayed home sick from church with me yesterday so we had Sunday school at home.  Since daddy is a fire fighter, the boys understand fire and how it spreads.  So we did an activity using fire fighting stickers to help him understand the passage from James that says:

“We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth.  And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong.  In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.  But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.  And the tongue is a flame of fire.  It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body.  It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.  People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue.  It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.  Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God.  And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth.” 3:3-10

One of our Family Ways is “We encourage one another using only words that build up and bless others.”  As in most families with siblings, this is an ongoing battle.  So after reading the above passage, we talked about how our minds control our feelings and then trigger the words we say.  So if Ian takes a toy from Ethan and Ethan thinks to himself,  ”How dare he take that from me, it’s mine!” Those thoughts trigger angry feelings and then sinful words come out of his mouth toward his brother.  In our firefighting analogy, we had small stickers of “sparks” of fire which we labeled different thoughts and behaviors (jealousy, pride, cursing).  The water that the fire fighters used to put out the fire is God’s word, prayer, repentence and the power of the Holy Spirit. 

I think this project will be one we’ll hang up and consult quite regularly or until sibling rivalry ends…maybe when they’re in their 50′s?