After thirty years, I’m still gleaning secrets to a simpler
life from Amish friends. My husband and I are taking a road trip across America
to learn more. Ever so thankful to have a husband who's partners in Amish
hunting. ;) We love our Amish friends in Smicksburg, but we get a bit myopic,
since they're only half hour away. So we're expanding our horizons.
As the Amish are now in 40-some states, hubby and I are
getting ready to leave for three-weeks from Western Pennsylvania. Something
deep within makes us seekers and lifelong learners of the Amish and Mennonites.
I’ve wondered about their appeal and lately, I think they’re similar to St.
Augustine and some of the Desert Fathers & Sisters who left a materialistic
world in 300 A.D. to embrace simplicity and be off-the-grid. Today, all the
buzz about tiny house living and modern day minimalism, are we at the breaking
point? I think so. Tim and I are.
I also want to get back to the old-fashioned way of life.
Both of my parents were first generation immigrants. My mom passed on some
Italian sayings and my dad his Croatian. When I was a teen I was shocked to
find that “cleanliness is next to godliness” and “charity begins at home” were
not in the Bible. I checked “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything
at all’ was in there, and it’s not either.
So, I do understand the Amish with their sayings. They’re
taught to their children as little nibbles of wisdom to steer them in life.
Regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow are twin
thieves that rob us of the moment.
Live each short hour with God and the long years will take
care of themselves.
I’m so blessed to have learned so much from the Amish. I
hope to inspire and point not only to God in my writings, now to include
non-fiction and a lot more blogging here. I yearn to help readers to walk a
path a bit less chaotic. Granny Weaver, an elderly Amish woman character who
finds her way in most of my books, knitting needles in tow, is a lover of
Robert Frost. (The Amish love poetry.) She reads and ponders The Road Not
Taken:
“Two roads diverged in
a wood, and I—
I took the one less
traveled by,
And that has made all
the difference.”
As we head from Pennsylvania to New Mexico, we know there’s
unrest in America. What path should we take? For answers, we hope to connect with
and understand Native American culture as well. Having lived near Seneca Nation
in Salamanca, New York for ten years, we admired how, despite present day
opposition and prejudice, they aren't bitter, but give a warning: "Our
country was taken from us. It can happen to the White Man." Somber words,
but true. So intrigued by Natives, I hope to meet some that live near Amish so
I can continue to combine both cultures like I do in my novels The Amish Doll and Plain Jane.
So, hopefully, you'll be seeing plenty of pictures of Amish
across America along with Natives, two cultures dear to my heart.
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