The Extraordinary Power of Less

My husband and I had a little date this past Friday night.  So, of course, we got ice cream and headed to Half-Price Books.  We occasionally cross paths once we get there between the Religion and Parenting sections for me and the Military History section for him.  (You probably don't want dating advice from us). 

I found a few prizes, but couldn't wait to sink my teeth into one in particular, Simplicity Parenting - Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne, M.Ed.  I'm a little over halfway through and have found him to beautifully explain many things I've come to believe (mostly unconciously) over time. So far, the gist is this:

~We are "building families on the four pillars of 'too much':  too much stuff, too many choices, too much information, and too fast."

~As our family's architects, "we need to add a little more space and grace, a little less speed and clutter to our children's lives."

~"Relationships are forged in pauses...the ordinary incidental moments that have extraordinary cumulative power."

He seems to answer, in depth, what Thomas Merton eloquently states in Seven Storey Mountain on this same topic:

We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pitch of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible, in order to cater to them with the products of our factories and printing presses and movie studios and all the rest.

I am motivated!!  I am going through every room in my house and trying to cut the "stuff" in half:  clothes, books, toys, etc... and am having a garage sale on Saturday (for those who don't think less is more ;).  I am also changing the toys that are available and in-plain-sight for my kiddos:  out with sensory overload, in with dominos, magnets, building sets, Legos, etc...

There are a lot of other discussions and things pondered in this book, like rhythm, schedules, and environment. He is very funny, too.  I highly encourage you to read this book if you still have kids at home!  I can't wait to finish it. 

Dear Lord, Thank you for people who can explain things that we inherently know, but can't explain.  Thank you for confirmation that life should be more "being" than "doing".  Thank you for your grace.  Help me extend it to others, most especially my children.  Please help me give my children the gift of myself, so that I may not be tempted to "fill in" with other things.  Dear Mary, help me to be the Mother that you are.  Amen.