An Experiment

I had found an idea in a magazine that I thought I would try before the boys went back to school (yes this is a late posting).

The boys were not real thrilled, as you can tell from the picture below, but I hope it is something that will stick!

As you can see each boy has an egg in a sealed bag. It is a regular egg, the only thing I did to it was put their names on each egg. But, Ronnie got the one with "Nathaniel's" name and Nathaniel got the one with "Ronnie".

Their instructions were to keep the egg on them while they played for a whole hour. They had to have it on them (hand, pocket, etc.) the whole time.

They were not thrilled. Although, they were a little happier when they realized it would fit in their pockets!

Off they went!

They decided that golf would be easiest to play with an egg in their pocket, so the carefully wacked at their balls. I watched from the window as they got tired of golf and really wanted to play baseball. As they gathered their equipment and began their usual summer play! I decided to let them play and see what would happen.

I had just gone up the stairs with a laundry basket when I heard the backdoor slam shut and "Mom" come ringing through the house. They had all 3 come to report that Nathaniel had smashed his egg! "Mom, I didn't know!" was his response to the bag filled with egg.

I think they were waiting to see what kind of trouble he would be in. I sent them back outside and then went for my Bible before joining them.

We sat down and I explained to them that the eggs are fragile just like people's feelings. Sometimes we can accidentally ("without knowing") say something that can really hurt our brothers feelings. Or we can be reckless with our words and crush others. Gentleness means that we treat each person with care, similar to how they needed to care for their eggs.

I explained that sometimes we can get busy with what we want to do that we forget about others and find it hard to be careful with our words and what we say. We have to ask God to help us be mindful of others!

I'm wasn't sure at the time that they got the point of the little experiment or not. They were thankful not to have to keep their eggs anymore.

A day or two later though when they were at each other about something and I brought up the eggs - they both remembered the experiment!

Hopefully I can teach my boys to love each other and to ask God to help them to think about their brothers and their feelings!