Amish Values for Your Family
August 28th, 2011. Filed under: This & That.Applying Amish Values Can Simplify Your Life, Health, and Career
Learning principles from a gentle people will help safeguard your time together as a family as you learn to slow down, prioritize, and value what’s truly important.
Award-winning author Suzanne Woods Fisher inspires readers to slow down and understand the values that help build a strong family in Amish Values for Your Family (ISBN: 978-0-8007-1996-8, $12.99, 192 pages August 2011). Studies are finding some alarming trends in the daily life of modern families -family time is a vanishing commodity. Compared to thirty years ago, today’s parents spend 40% less time with their children. This decline coincides with the rise in internet use, the popularity with social networks, and the swell of children’s organized sports and activities. What is competing for your family time? Who is winning?
The Amish have maintained one of the strongest and most stable family systems in America. Harvard School of Medicine recently found that Amish people have a lower rate of heart disease than do average Americans as well as lower rates of cancer. Could their simple way of life, hard work, and value of family contribute to a healthier way of life? And, if so, how is it possible to incorporate some principles of the Amish into a modern family without “goin’ Amish?”
In Amish Values for Your Family, Fisher shows how you can adopt the wisdom of the Amish when it comes to family matters. In this inspiring and practical book, readers will find true stories interlaced with solid, biblical advice about parenting, marriage, and all aspects of family life – without selling your car, changing your wardrobe, or moving to the Amish countryside. Readers will learn to prioritize what’s truly important, simplify decision-making, slow down as a family, safeguard time together, and letting go when the time comes
ISLAND BREEZES
I’ve been drawn to the simple life of the Amish for a long time now. Even though I’m not going to become Amish, I still feel a deep connection.
We can learn so much from Amish values. I’m grateful for this book which both rounds up the values and teaches us how to apply them to our non-Amish lives.
The “Read, Read, Read” chapter stood out for me as I (as well as the rest of my family) love to read.
I think that we as a family need to direct our children away from the overpowering distraction of technology. We need to focus more on the wonders of our world, as well as it’s Creator.
The first section reminds us that Amish children are loved but not adored. Now doesn’t that bring things into proper perspective?
Two more things about this book that I appreciate are the sections that tell us how to “get there from here” and the Amish proverbs. There are so many that spoke to me, but I will only leave you with one. You’ll have to get your own book to read the rest.
Keeping a neat house is like threading beads on a string with no knot on it.
***Thank you to Donna Hausler for providing a review copy***
Suzanne Woods Fisher is the bestselling author of The Choice, The Waiting, and The Search, as well as nonfiction books about the Amish, including Amish Peace. Her interest in the Anabaptist cultures can be directly traced to her grandfather, W. D. Benedict, who was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Benedict eventually became publisher of Christianity Today magazine. Suzanne is the host of a radio show called Amish Wisdom. She lives in California. To learn more about Suzanne visit her at suzannewoodsfisher.com
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, offers practical books that bring the Christian faith to everyday life.? They publish resources from a variety of well-known brands and authors, including their partnership with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and Hungry Planet.
Available August 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.