Karen's chapter today on "The Way of the Will"has my mind perked with interest. She explains that our Will is a part of our soul, and an integral piece of our being. I can see that we underestimate our Will, not realizing the impact that it has on each day.

The Will's function is to choose. All day long we make choices according to it's inclination and preference. Either we make choices based on established good character or we make choices that resemble a sinful, selfish, and spoiled character. It all depends on how our Will has been trained.

Joanna Weaver, in her book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, compares it to training a dog. Have you ever seen the difference between an obedient dog and a dog that's never been given the time to teach good habits to? An obedient dog will heel! sit! stay! fetch! and possibly learn a few fun tricks along the way. On the other hand, a dog that's never been trained will practically take you for a walk! Their actions are based soley on instinct, smell, and desire. They've never been taught any different. And the older the dog is, the harder it is to train. Surely you've heard the saying, "You can't teach an old dog, new tricks."

It's the same with our Will. We can train our Will (and that of our children's) up in godly character, or, we can pay the penalty later by always allowing our Will to act impulsively and by it's sinful nature....always choosing for the good of itself, and never for the benefit of others.

Know too that this training doesn't happen through constant nagging and dictatorship, deciding everything for our children. Charlotte Mason says that "obedience is valuable only insofar as it helps the child towards making himself do that which he knows he ought to do. Every effort of odedience which does not give him a sense of conquest over his own inclination, help enslave him."

Instead, it begins by building a foundation of godly precepts, nurturing godly character, allowing room for mistakes, teaching the rule of consequences, and weaving good habits into the fabric of each day. Charlotte says, "But invite his cooperation. Let him heartily intend and purpose to do the thing he is bidden, and then it is his own Will that is compelling him, and not yours; and he has begun the greatest effort, the highest accomplishment of himself...Let him enjoy a sense of triumph and of your congratulation, whenever he fetches his thoughts back to his tiresome [math page], whenever he makes his hands finish what they have begun."  

If we are teaching our children to make right choices and we are training them in the techniques of lassoing their own Will, then we will ultimately be doing them, ourselves, and the world, a huge benefit. Afterall, isn't that one of our greatest tasks as parents? Preparing them to GO out into the world?