Saturday, August 20, 2011

5 Things I've Learned from the Amish (Guest Post by Suzanne Woods Fisher)

Guest blog from Suzanne Woods Fisher for “Amish Values for Your Family” (Revell)

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.


Amish Children, Lancaster County, PA

Amish Children, Lancaster County, PA




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!




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9 comments:

  1. Good post, yes Saturday is the Sabbath, I take advantage of that also, Sunday is the lord's day, and I do very little on Sunday, we attend church, morning and evening, and the rest is left until Monday, hugs my friend.
    Many misread God's word, the Sabbath is day of rest, being in the ministry for so many years, our day of rest is Monday, but Sunday is the lord's day, and all our adult life we have honored him, and his day, we have 6 days to do whatever needed, the seventh belongs to God.

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  2. I have read Suzanne's book Amish Wisdom...I admire the Amish so much for the reasons you mentioned here and more....Their Christian ways are a great example to us all..I say Amen to the Amish way!

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  3. Neat! I haven't read that book, but they do have a lot of things we could learn from them.

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  4. Lovely post, love reading about the Amish. I truly believe that we, as followers of Christ, can learn a lot from their way of living. In many instances, we look more like the world than we should....

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  5. It is true we have too many similarities with the world. I hope more Christians will realize this and seek to be different in what matters.

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  6. I love the Amish way of living. However, they are not Christians. They think it is prideful to say that to believe only in Jesus is the way to get to Heaven. They believe in Works for Salvation. They are a cult and we should be praying for them. My friend who is a preacher down in P.A. holds secret bible studies with the Amish to teach them about the real Jesus. Once these Amish become Christians if they speak out they are usually shunned. Some teach it to their families, but their ordung can not know about it or risk the shunning. Yes, they have wonderful simple ways of living, but lets not cherish everything that they have. To be denied the true gospel of Jesus is the worst thing I can think of.

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  7. I love Suzanne's books. I think the Amish could teach us a lot. I always feel so peaceful when I'm reading about the Amish.

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