Copyright © 2026 Women of the ELCA. Reprint permission is granted for use in Women of the ELCA units, clusters/conferences and synodical women’s organizations provided each post is reproduced in its entirety. If you enjoy this resource, Donate Now.
There’s a phrase my mom says: Sometimes the worst enemy of God’s best is not the bad but the good. It’s easy to use certain phrases to put a holy stamp of approval on whatever it is you’re planning to do anyway. But this holds some truth. If the good things have me spread too thin, I won’t have energy to focus on what’s most important. If I’m exhausted from saying yes to everything, I won’t have enough bandwidth, let alone for a special project. If my to-do list is too long, I can’t give attention to each item in the way I would like. If I’m focused on everything else, I will struggle to be present with my daughter and my husband. If I am trying to spend time with too great a number of friends, it will be hard to build the meaningful connections I crave. If I’m always on the move, I’ll miss opportunities to slow down and see what the silence may hold for me. Quiet places, seemingly empty spaces, often bear the most fruit of all.
This message is excerpted from “Time for pruning” by Cara Strickland in the July/August 2022 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Bartolome de Las Casas, missionary to the Indies, 1566.