Here’s something that kind of turned my thinking upside down recently — the most effective growth in my life hasn’t come from adding more. It’s come from subtracting things.
We’re wired to think that growth means doing more. Reading more books. Listening to more podcasts. Learning more strategies. And honestly, none of those things are bad. But at some point, more information without stillness just becomes noise.
What if the most important thing you could do for your parenting right now isn’t adding something to your plate, but removing something from it?
For me, that’s looked like choosing meditation over information. Instead of immediately reaching for another book or hitting play on another episode, I’m learning to just… be still. To sit with God and actually let what He’s already said sink in. It’s harder than it sounds in a world that rewards hustle.
It’s also meant choosing prayer over performance. And to be honest, my long daily to-do list is one of my biggest temptations at squeezing out prayer as something optional.
But the truth I keep coming back to is this: when I start crowding out prayer, what I’m really saying is that I think I can get more done in my own power than in God’s. And that never ends well.
So this week, instead of asking “What can I add?”, try asking “What can I remove?”
Your kids don’t need a busier, more informed version of you. They do need a prayerful, present one.
