Where there’s a will, there’s hot chocolate!

October 6, 2018

This afternoon, I overheard my six-year-old saying to Siri, "how to draw a cup of hot chocolate?" Within a few seconds, he was at his desk watching a step-by-step tutorial on how to draw a cup of hot chocolate. So, when he ran up to me later with a "surprise" I was sure to find a drawing of hot chocolate; instead, I got a bunny named "Boonie." 

This is the conversation that followed:

Me: I saw you watching a tutorial. How did it go?

Him: Oh yeah the hot chocolate drawing, it was a fail

Me: A fail? How many times did you try it?

Him: Once.

Me: That's not a fail, that's trying. - When you were a baby, and you wanted to learn how to walk, did you know how to walk right away?

Him: mmm No

Me: Right! First, you fell. Then you fell again. Then you stumbled. Then you held on. Then you walked. That's because you had something called, the "will" – do you know what "will" is?

Him: Yes, is it love?

Me: No, actually... come to think of it yes, it kind of is. —Your 'will' is the secret sauce God put in you, so you will do the actions that are hard at first but that you are meant to perform.

Him: What's a secret sauce?

Me: The secret sauce is the "intention" — You see, God intended for you to walk, so your 'will' made you determined to keep trying to walk, despite all of the falls. 

Him: But why does God let me fall, if He wants me to do it?

Me: Your 'will' is His love. Love is not sheltering your children from pain, it's preparing them for it, so when they do fall, they can get up again. If God didn't give us this will, none of us would be walking right now. Because we "willed" to walk – we pushed through the pain of falling and finally learned to walk (and we did it with joy).

When you get older, you're going to have two choices:

1. Do work you do not WILL to do—work you don't love.

or

2. Work that you WILL to do and that you love. 

And do you know what the difference is?

Him: No, not really mommy.

Me: When you do work against your will - work becomes stress. When you do work with your will - you get something we call "fun" or "passion." The secret is to figure out what your 'will' is and not what someone else's 'will' is for you. 

Him: How will I know Mommy?

Me: You'll know it's 'your will' when time flies as you're trying to master a skill, even if it's not easy, and it won't be in the beginning, but you love doing it.

Him: Okay…

Me: So my question to you is: Do you will to draw hot chocolate?

Him: Yes, mommy, I do!

Me: So get to it. Push through the hard parts and finish the tutorial

Him: Okay! (Quickly scurries off to his room)

A half-hour later, he came back with a cup of hot chocolate and marshmallows (see pic above).

Lesson: Whatever you do, know that there will always be a learning curve, that brief "crawling" stage period where you don't know what you're doing. You will stumble. You will make mistakes. But if you push through it, and you do it with love (will) - you'll never have to work a day in your life.