Jesus Muscles

We've started something new in our house--exercising our "Jesus Muscles." The kids get rewarded for intentionally obeying God's Word by doing such things as: obeying immediately, resisting temptation, not hurting or yelling back when somebody hurts or offends them, listening to the Holy Spirit (or, as they call it, "the little voice inside of me"), etc. When they do one of these things, they get to pick a slip of paper from the Jesus Muscles envelope and follow its instructions. These aren't material things, but more like silly little privileges.

Here are some examples of some of the things they've been able to do:

• Wear Daddy's pajamas to bed
• Eat dessert before dinner
• Get to choose where we walk (and control the garage door clicker) when we take a walk
• Get to eat off of breakable adult dishes all day long
• Get to plan a meal and help cook it
• Get a free pass to not have to clean their room that night before bed
• Get to call two family members or friends to tell them all about how they resisted temptation, listened or obeyed
• Get to stay up an extra 10 minutes with Mommy and Daddy

The kids absolutely love this! They can't wait to see what silly thing they'll get to do next. And, I've noticed a remarkable improvement in the boys ability to get along together now that they are working hard to not fight back or escalate arguments. Aidan especially is learning how to listen to the Holy Spirit better. For instance, the other day right after Cotter got a spanking for something, Aidan came to me and said, "I wanted to laugh when Cotter was getting a spanking, but the little voice inside of me told me that I shouldn't be happy about that, so I didn't. " I thought that was great!

We'll see how long until the novelty of the Jesus Muscles (or my creativity in coming up with silly privileges) wears off. If you have any ideas, let me know!