I have read and heard mixed reviews of the book, Almost Amish
As soon as I finished Almost Amish, I picked up The Dirty Life
The Dirty Life is more of a memoir of the author’s life after she married and they started a huge farm. It is so fascinating. What I learned from her story is HOW MUCH WORK goes into it all. Honestly, I think I’m too lazy to be a farmer! ugh!
Almost Amish shares from a Christian perspective about caring for God’s creation, living more simply to help others more, and from a historical standpoint sharing about the Amish.
These books have me wanting to move out into the country and grow all our own food!! ha!
But, in all honesty, I crave a more simple life. In many ways, I have tried to be more proactive in living a simpler, more frugal & healthy lifestyle recently. I have worked on creating more things at home: lotion, laundry soap & liquid soap, cooking more, etc. For me, living a simpler life doesn’t always mean EASY or CONVENIENT. But, simpler in ingredients, more simple in where these things come from, more simple means more healthy for us, more frugal.
This is one of my favorite quotes and it applies here so very much:
Live more simply so that others can simply live.
If we are living more simply, don’t we have more room in our lives to give??
But, sometimes more SIMPLE means more WORK. Kind of doesn’t make a lot of sense at times. 🙂
In Almost Amish, the author, Nancy Sleeth, shares many ways that she has learned a more simple life from the Amish:
- faith: small, community churches that meet in homes
- schools: small, community schools with all decisions made by that small community of families
- food: they grow and make themselves and share with neighbors
- homes: no clutter, good quality items that will pass from generation to generation
- technology: doing without, staying close to families and friends, no distractions of facebook to keep them away from living their daily lives
- family: staying close to family when we can, to help each other and give support, share items, etc.
- neighbors: get to know your neighbors, be willing to share, give and receive and grow these relationships
When pondering simplicity, I immediately started thinking of my large-ish church. There is no way to know everyone. It seems at times that the mindset “bigger is better” is how our church strives. Not so for the Amish, when they get to a number over 100, they break into new churches/family groups, according to this book.
They meet in homes and bring food, worship, eat and fellowship together. This sounds perfect to me. No rehearsals (though I love our worship ministry,) no set-up, no tear-down, no building funds, no arguments over carpet color.
Don’t get me wrong, I love our church. I love the people. I love how God has grown me since being there. But, sometimes I crave the simple. And a large church just cannot function on simple. Can it? I don’t know…committee meetings, committees in general (ha!) so many needs, so many people to be taught, so many opinions, so many different areas to serve – means so many needs for people to show up. I don’t love the constant need and drive for people to do MORE, be there MORE, we need MORE help, MORE volunteers, etc.
Another area of simplicity this book has made me ponder is technology: specifically this blog and social media. What if I didn’t have twitter and facebook to check in with every few minutes…how much more could I get done around my house? Often I think there is NO WAY I could do all that it takes to lead a more simple life (more baking, more housework, gardening, etc.) SO MUCH WORK. But, I have SO MANY DISTRACTIONS that if I did away with some of the distractions, could life really be so much more simple??
What if I stopped promoting my blog and instead of trying to make a small income from this blog, I focused on sticking more strictly to the budget that my husband works so hard on? I’m so uncomfortable with promoting myself anyway, what if I just kept blogging because I enjoy it, it’s a hobby I can do from home…and not worry about how many hits I’m getting each month?!
I don’t know…this book has definitely given me lots of food for thought. These are all just thoughts swirling around in my head. I don’t know exactly what that looks like in my life. I don’t know how to get from A to B. But, I’m praying, pondering and hoping God will give us wisdom in this. Along with wisdom, I’m praying for the courage to step out and go against the ways of this world – even the ways of friends and family. It’s hard for this people pleaser to consider that, so I pray for courage where courage is needed.
Speaking of courage, these books and trying to live more frugally have shown me some PRIDE. So, this is good…I love it when God is gentle with us and shows us things about ourselves that we need to change. In sharing with others I have found myself embarrassed (around certain people in particular) to share the things I’ve been trying and cutting out. Yes, we are trying to do without paper towels and paper plates right now…and yes, I actually tried to make my own toothpaste. No it didn’t turn out, but I didn’t want people to know I had made it! ha!! Why!?! God is showing me yet again that I care too much what others think of me!!
I would love to hear from you!! Especially if you have made distinct changes in your life to turn towards simplicity. What things have you done in your home to live a more simple life? Have you had any unusual responses to any of the things you’ve tried?? Would love to hear!
Oh my word, your post is so RICH! I need to read it again. I share so many of the thoughts you mentioned in your post … I even have been led to read those books above (I’m in the middle of Almost Amish & never did completely finish Dirty Life) … but it all comes from this gut-wrenching cry in me to simplify, to declutter (my physical world & inner world), to live simply, to be PRESENT; to be present to my family, present to the loved ones around me, present to the Lord and how He wants me to soak in His presence every day … but I find it so hard. Just the other night as I was processing all my thoughts while falling asleep (I actually call that my “face time” with God, because I do that every night and it’s like my confession time too) I was getting annoyed and angry as I thought about just how bombarded we are when we open ourselves to this world, to technology, and how even though so many of these things are good – we’re still bombarded. One blog post leads to another blog post, leads to a Twitter page, to a Facebook page, to “Oh, have to check my feed now”, which leads to another website, another wonderful book to read, another great song to listen to, another thing to Pin for later and AHHH …. that night it was like an epiphany for me to see this. So I set out to start creating boundaries for myself in relation to all “that’s out there” to see, to do, to read, to watch … and this is mainly just in the Christian sphere I’m speaking of.
Whew, if you’re still with me … I started out by whittling down my email subscriptions. I’ve unsubscribed from 53 things and I still have over 30 I haven’t been able to let go of yet. I am now working on boundaries for what I do on FB, Twitter, and yes have to think of the blog.
This past year I too have been seeking to make a small income from the blog and yet having that focus and picking up a few hours at the Y has made me start re-evaluating everything.
SO sorry to be longwinded, I almost messaged you in FB, but thought it may be helpful for others to see … You are definitely not alone and I continue to seek the Lord in this too.
Thanks for sharing your heart!
Tracey, thanks so much for chiming in. I don’t know why it’s so hard for us…I just blame it on how the world is today – and then I am reminded, be in this world but not OF it…and THAT is really hard, too!! Thank you for sharing your thoughts…I love hearing about others on this journey and how God is working it out in their lives.
This is a great post and a very timely topic. These same thoughts have been on my mind for some time now. I, too, long for a more simple life. I have a private blog that I’ve decided not to promote. I wish to keep that aspect of my life as simple as possible. I tried, at first, to branch out but it really wasn’t working for me. I came to the realization that I really want to keep my blogging a simple as possible. I blog when I feel like and don’t try to keep up with a schedule or followers, etc.
As far as my personal life, my husband and I have started gardening and we are also raising chickens. This has been so fulfilling to us. I cook from scratch the majority of the time, bake our own bread, and have recently started crocheting again. I still have a long way to go, but I’m taking baby steps. :)I could go on and on, but I won’t take up any more of your time. 🙂
It’s nice to know that there are others out there who share some of my same feelings.
I live in a small Amish town…but I’m not Amish. 🙂 I agree that there is much to be learned from their simple way of life. I just planted apple trees, and I’m baking my own bread which both help me be frugal. As for slowing down, I’m working on that…
Great post. I wonder if these books are availablee on audio..I’m more likely to listen to them than read them. I’ll check my library. This post reminded me of a blog that I read all the time: http://notquiteamishliving.com/. It’s wonderful..you may already read it, if not, I’m sure you will enjoy it.
We too try to live a simple life and the Amish give me a lot of inspiration.
Margaret @ Live Like No One Else
I have often joked with my husband that I think I would enjoy living the Amish lifestyle (due to reading and exorbitant amount of Beverly Lewis books!). We have been making our own laundry detergent for the past 7 month, and have recently started making all of other cleaning products as well. We garden and I’ve started making more things from scratch. Thank you for sharing this post!