At our church, the kids go to Sunday school during the services. I’m not a big fan of this (I’d rather go to church with my kids), but after a season of rebellion I gave in to the peer pressure. My wife took a more proactive approach. She now teaches at their Sunday school. Even better, she teaches the class our youngest attends.

A few weeks back, she ran a class centered on the idea of “heartprints” (which she found in a children’s book). It’s a really cool idea. In essence, heartprints are the impressions you leave on other people’s hearts. When you do something nice, it sticks with them through the day – a heartprint they can enjoy over and over again.

The time after Sunday school is never easy. Both kids are rambunctious and it’s my job to keep them under control while their mom finishes cleaning up after her class.

After the heartprints class, the oldest was giving me lots of trouble. He kept finding ways to pick on his younger brother – poking, making faces, whispering, you know the drill.

At one point, his younger brother yelled at him: “Stop! You’re not giving me heartburn!”

The older son stopped, not sure what to do.

The younger looked at me. “He’s not giving heartburn. You’re supposed to give heartburn!”

Heartprints, heartburn… Close enough, right?