Review - Amish Values for Your Family

Amish Values for Your Family

What We Can Learn from the Simple Life

Suzanne Woods Fisher

I have always been fascinated by the Amish.  They aren’t afraid to live out their faith while eschewing the conventions of the modern world.  They seem to me to be somewhat unblemished.  Their values are based on their simple life and not on what the media feeds them. There’s something about an agrarian society that focuses on faith and family that really appeals to me.  That doesn’t mean I’m ready to “go Amish”, but it does mean that I know I have a lot to learn from them.

Suzanne Woods Fisher’s book does an excellent job of bringing the life of the Amish to the reader in small digestible bits.  There are four sections with several chapters that last only a few pages each.  It’s the content of those small chapters that really resonates with the reader.  Each chapter opens with an Amish saying or proverb, and then shares a little  window into the values of the Amish and allows us to see how they can be applied in our own lives.  The chapter is followed with a “Getting from Here to There" to help us apply the lesson to our daily lives.  At the conclusion are short clips shared by the Amish community through their local paper. 

When thinking about what I took away from this book, the first thing that comes to mind is the title of the first chapter “Children are Loved but not Adored.”  How many times do we find ourselves adoring our children to a fault?  Through adoration they never learn their weaknesses, they are never allowed to stumble, and they find it difficult to be self-sufficient later in life.  I believe I see my own folly in this one as I have tended to adore my children making them less equip than they need to be for the adult world. 

Throughout the book, the focus is on family and the bond they have.  However, this bond does not exceed their faith, it comes through it.  We all need to spend more time with our spouses and our children – working, playing, worshiping.  It’s easy to let those moments get displaced by work, busyness, distraction, media.  I know I’m guilty.  I took away a deeper need to focus on the value of family rather than the value of things.  So what if we earn a lot of money and have a lot of things if our family suffers for it?  A friend the other day asked (on Facebook) how we define success.  Money wasn’t what popped into mind, it was a healthy, well adjusted family. 

Suzanne created a work that truly gives us a glimpse into the window of the lives of the Amish.  I count this book a blessing.  One day, I hope to visit the Amish communities and see their lives first hand, but until then I appreciate this opportunity to evaluate my life against the simple life and reevaluate what is important.  

I encourage all seeking to simplify life to check out Amish Values for Your Family.  In addition, Suzanne is running an exciting giveaway to coincide with the publishing of this book.  Take a look...
 

Enter 8/15 - 8/31!

Suzanne Woods Fisher is thrilled to announce the release of Amish Values for Your Family, her latest non-fiction release. "It offers loving ways to bring your fractured home back to life-Amish style. Read it and apply generously! It’s a beautiful book-funny, charming, soulful, and beautiful." -Mary Ann Kirkby

Read the reviews here.

To celebrate the release of Amish Values for Your Family, Suzanne has teamed up her publisher Revell Books to giveaway a Kindle, and with Bill Coleman (the amazing photographer used on Suzanne’s book covers) to give away a signed Bill Coleman original.

One Grand Prize winner will receive an Amish Values Prize Package (valued at over $200) and includes:

* A brand new KINDLE
* A Signed Bill Coleman original
* Amish Values for Your Family (for KINDLE)
<><> <><><><><><> <><><><>Click on one of the icons to enter. Winner will be announced on 9/2 at Suzanne’s blog. Be sure to stop by the blogs on Suzanne’s blog tour – many have copies of Amish Values for Your Family to give away.

But, wait there's more! Suzanne is running a Bill Coleman caption contest during the month of August on her blog. Title one of Bill’s gorgeous photos for a chance to win a print from Bill’s Amish Photo site and/or a copy of Amish Values for Your Family.

***  I was given this book free from LitFuse for my honest review.

Guest Blog - Suzanne Woods Fischer - Five Things I’ve Learned from the Amish

I'm blessed to review Suzanne's new book next week.  Until then, I thought I'd share a guest post by Suzanne about the unique and wonderful lessons we can learn from the Amish.

Five Things I’ve Learned from the Amish that Have Nothing to Do with being Amish and Have Everything to Do with being a Christian:

Being Amish is not a lifestyle. Life among the Amish has to do with faith. Faith can’t be squeezed to an hour or two on Sunday morning; it infuses their entire life like a teabag in hot water. What they do and how they do it is rooted in the spiritual question: What is pleasing to God?

Amish proverb: “Letting go of earthly possessions enables us to take hold of heavenly treasures.”

The Lesson: To pray about my day’s activities and offer them to God, first, for His purposes. And then trusting interruptions (seeing a friend in the grocery store, for example) or de-railings (those days when everything goes wrong!) to be God-managed.  

Cherish your family. A family that works together, grows together. Amish families spend a lot of time together and try to keep their work close to home. Children are valued as gifts from God, wanted and enjoyed. They’re included in all of Amish life—from barn raisings to three-hour church services. An Amish bishop once said, "We don't prepare our children for the future, we prepare our children for eternity."

Amish proverb: “Tomorrow’s world will be shaped by what we teach our children today.”

The Lesson: Involving children in chores and activities may not be the most convenient or efficient way to accomplish a task, but the benefits are long lasting. Look for ways to get everybody involved—cook together, sweep out the garage together, set the table together. And have fun while you’re doing it!

Draw a land in the sand. The Amish want to be good stewards of God’s resources—time, money, material goods. They know that convenience comes with a cost. They don’t want to be dependent on outside sources (such as electricity or gas!). Convenience means loss of something valuable. For example, fast food means less nutrition. More stuff means more maintenance. They’re willing to say no.

Amish proverb: “Things that steal our time are usually the easiest to do.”

The Lesson: Technology has its limits. And technology isn’t all good. Evaluate purchases more thoughtfully. Think of where a purchase or an added expense will lead your family. More time together or less? More stress or less? Reframe your view of time and money and goods as God’s resources.

Watch Your Words. The Amish continually stress the importance of filtering their speech.

Amish proverb: “Words break no bones, but they can break hearts” and “Mincing your words makes it easier if you have to eat them later.”

The Lesson: Say less. Prayer more.  

Nothing replaces face-to-face visits. Back in the day when telephones emerged on the scene, the Amish bishops made a deliberate decision to keep the telephone out of the house. They didn’t want to interrupt family life. But they drop everything for a face-to-face visit.

Amish proverb: “Use friendship as a drawing account, but don’t forget to make a deposit.”

The Lesson: Nurture relationships by investing face-to-face time in them. No technology can substitute for the real thing.

Honor the Sabbath. An Amish person would never think of working on a Sunday. But it’s more than that—they truly cherish their Sabbath. They spend time on Saturday to make Sunday a smooth and easy day.

Amish proverb: “Many things I have tried to grasp and have lost. That which I have placed in God’s hands I still have.”

The Lesson: Strive to make Sunday a different day than other days. A day of rest is important on so many levels—time to worship, time to reflect, time to re-energize. A re-charge your battery day.

Suzanne Woods Fisher is a bestselling author of Amish fiction and non-fiction and the host of a weekly radio program called Amish Wisdom. Her most recent book, Amish Values for Your Family released in August. The Waiting is a finalist for a 2011 Christy Award. Amish Peace: Simple and Amish Proverbs were both finalists for the ECPA Book of the Year (2010, 2011). Her interest in the Amish began with her grandfather, W.D. Benedict, who was raised Plain. Suzanne has a great admiration for the Plain people and believes they provide wonderful examples to the world.  When Suzanne isn't writing or bragging to her friends about her first new grandbaby (!), she is raising puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. To Suzanne's way of thinking, you just can't take life too seriously when a puppy is tearing through your house with someone's underwear in its mouth. Keep up on Suzanne's latest news on Facebook, Twitter and on her blog!