The Amish Way: Poems, Quotes and Words of Wisdom
While shopping at my favorite Amish Grocery I happened across this little book. My curiosity got the best of me and I had to buy it. Much to my delight I found way more than canning recipes and home remedies.
Tucked away in the pages of this little book I found poems, quotes and words of wisdom from some very smart and wise Amish Ladies!
My favorite saying from the Amish Sayings and Quotes collection would be the first one listed because it is soooooo true! It’s kinda of like the old saying, “If I knew then what I know now!”
My favorite poem would be Bless this Mess because it gives me insight on how Amish ladies face the same challenges as me on a daily basis! I guess I just somehow figured the Amish ladies had it all together and figured out that they don’t stress over laundry, dishes, dirty windows, etc!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy these as much as I did and please let me know which ones are your favorite and why they are your favorite. I will be interesting see how differently we all see things.
AMISH SAYINGS AND QUOTES– It is less painful to learn in our youth, than it is to be ignorant in our old age! – You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, but who wants a bunch of flies? An Amish friend Lobelville, TN – If a rooster crows before goin’ to bed, he’s sure to wake up with a wed head! (rain) Mrs. Robert Gingerich East Rochester, OH – Love is patient, Love is kind. Love bears all things, hopes all things and endures all things! – A whistlin’ woman and a crowin’ hen are sure to come to some bad end! Always forgive your enemies. It sure aggravates them! – Any housewife, no matter how large her family, can always get some time alone by doing the dishes! – A peck of common sense is worth a bushel of learning. – God is great, God is good By His had, we are fed. Give us Lord, our daily bread! – Sometimes you get discouraged, because I am so small. I always leave my fingerprints on the furniture and walls. But everyday I’m growing, I’ll be all grown up someday, and all these tiny fingerprints will surely fade away! AMISH POEMS AND WORDS OF WISDOM
The Farmer’s Love Letter
My sweet potato, do you carrot all for me? You are the apple of my eye. With radish hair and your turnip nose, My heart beets for you My love for you is strong as onions. If we cantaloupe, lettuce marry, and we will be a happy pear! Mrs. Robert Gingerich East Rochester, OH A LITTLE AMISH POEM Come, let’s clean our the garden, carry in everything that we find. Stuff everything in jars, with shapes of every kind. When winter comes a howling, along the shelves we’ll snoop, and serve our hungry family, with vegetables and soup. AN AMISH POEM Weary mother mixing dough, don’t you wish the food would grow? Your lips would smile, I know, to see, a cookie bush or donut tree! BLESS THIS MESS I look in the kitchen, and what do I see? But a great pile of dishes, just waiting for me. I glance through the window, my view is all bleary. The prints of small children, make it look very smeary. My glance falls on laundry, hanging over chairs, some of it folded, and some at me stares. With a basket of ironing, and another of mending, I find that my tasks, are almost unending. But the toys of the floor, and the rugs disarranged, show healthy children in this house have played. And the dishes and laundry, are proof that we’re blessed, with food and with rainment, so why get distressed? I’ve health and I’m privileged, to work with my best. So up and at, Thank God for this mess! An Amish friend, Sugarcreek, OH AN AMISH POEM I would rather have a little rose, from the garden of a friend, than flowers strewn around my casket, when my days on earth are ended. I would rather have a loving smile, from one I know is true, than tears shed ’round my casket, when the world I bid adieu. Bring me all my flowers today, and the true smile as I said, now! I’d rather have a smile or rose, than a truckload when I’m dead! TABLE RULESIn silence I must take my seat, and give God thanks before I eat. Must for my food, in patience wait, till I am asked to hand my plate. I must not scold, nor whine, nor pout, nor move my chair or plate about. With knife or fork or napkin ring, I must not play nor must I sing. I must not speak a useless word, For children must be seen, not heard! I must not talk about my food, nor fret if I don’t think it’s good. I must not say, “The bread is cold,” “The tea is hot,” “The coffee cold.” I must not cry for this or that, nor murmur if my meat is fat. My mouth with food, I must not crowd, nor while I’m eating, speak aloud. Must turn my head to cough or sneeze, and when I ask, say “If you please.” The tablecloth, I must not spoil, nor with my food, my fingers soil. Must keep my seat till I am done, nor round the table, sport and run. When told to rise, then I must put my chair away with noiseless foot. And lift my heart to God above, in praise for all His wondrous love. An Amish friend HOW TO PRESERVE A HUSBAND Some insist on keeping them in a pickle, while others are constantly them in hot water. Even the poor varieties can be made sweet and tender by garnishing with patience; well sweetened with smiles and flavored with kisses. Wrap well in a mantle of charity and keep warm with steady fire of devotion. Thus prepared, they’ll keep for years! RECIPE FOR LIFE One cup full of good thoughts 1 cup of kind deeds 1 cup consideration for others 2 cups well beaten faults 3 cups forgiveness Mix thoroughly and add tears of joy, sorrow and sympathy for others. Fold in 4 cups of prayer and faith to lighten other ingredients, and let rise to great heights of Christian living. After pouring all of this into your family life, bake well with warmth and human kindness. Serve with a smile. Lydia Ann Schwartz Berne, IN A COMMUNITY GARDEN Three rows squash 1. Squash grudges 2. Squash criticism 3. Squash gossip Four rows of turnips 1. Turn up for visits 2. Turn up with a smile 3. Turn up with a helping hand 4. Turn up on time Five rows of lettuce 1. Let us love one another 2. Let us welcome strangers 3. Let us be faithful to God’s duty 4. Let us worship God together 5. Let us pray often for one another Mrs. Robert Gingerich
Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did!
Dana
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Take Our Survey!The Purity of a Virtuous Woman
1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Titus 23 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
I apologize for this post being later than I had hoped.
For those of you who have ever played a large role in a Vacation Bible School, I’m sure you can understand why I took a little break.
And all my VBS peeps said, “Amen!”
This past week, our church was having our annual VBS with the theme of “The Virtuous Woman”. Each night, we discussed a characteristic found in Proverbs 31 and used a woman in the bible that exhibited those characteristics.
We talked about:
The Wisdom of a Virtuous Woman
The Compassion of a Virtuous Woman
The Courage of a Virtuous Woman
For our last virtue, we talked about purity.
We all know that purity means clean; without contamination.
We also know that physical purity is important and discussed in the bible.
I don’t want to get off on this tangent, but I feel that I need to point this out: this is something that has been tossed aside in our society. The idea that a person’s sexual purity is disposable, unnecessary, and a curse, has crawled its way into many of our homes.
Our children can’t see a commercial or hear a song without some sort of sexual insinuation, which, if left ignored, will desensitize them to impropriety.
The world is astonished at the notion of having a relationship without physical intimacy until marriage. “What’s the big deal?!” The big deal is that God intended for your body to belong to the person you marry, when you are married, and to no one else at any other time– and that goes for ladies AND gentlemen.
I told my daughter the other day that the reason I dislike “new country music” is because southern women are portrayed as promiscuous, immodest, drunken girls with a love of drunk boys in pick-ups. Remember when being a southern lady meant having a sense of propriety and values, loving Jesus, and being loyal to family?
I know I sound like an 80-year-old grandma with a wagging finger, but I can’t help it. I have a daughter to raise and I want my son to learn to value women, to be a protector of these virtues, and posses them himself. However, it seems that everywhere we look, women are showing their bodies and men are praising them for it. On the other hand, we have aggressive women throwing themselves at men who want to do the right thing.
Please understand that this rambling of mine isn’t about legalism. If we depended on our actions for God’s mercy, we’d all be doomed.
God’s word, if we have been saved, should cause us to examine ourselves and convict us of our wrong doings. I can’t help but do that every time I study the Proverbs 31 woman. It reveals in me my impure thoughts and actions. I am a sinner saved by grace– but I’m still a sinner and will be until I lay this body down. This is why God’s grace is so needful and wonderful.
It’s also why we need to extend grace to others.
We cannot be perfect. None of us can. It baffles me that people think they can be good enough to go to heaven. Scripture teaches us plainly that no one can be good enough. God compares us to Jesus. Can any of us measure up to Jesus’s purity? No. Not one. When God looks at us, He sees a people who have sinned against Him and His Son– but if He sees the blood of His Son on our hearts, He sees us as His children.
If my kids have had a bad day and had gotten in trouble, I tell them that best thing about tomorrow is that it’s a fresh start with no mistakes. Isn’t it nice to know that it’s the same with God?
Lamentations 3:21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.22 It is of the Lord‘s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
I hope that we all realize we must strive for holiness. Not just our bodies– but our eyes, ears, and mind need to be guarded. Do we protect our thoughts? Do we guard our hearts? Virtue is something that requires great effort and I pray that God will grant us the strength and perseverance to achieve such things for His honor, His glory, and to the furthering of His kingdom.
We are linked up!
God bless you all,
The Wisdom of a Virtuous Woman
Proverbs 31:26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
Proverbs 14:1 Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
Yesterday {Tuesday} was the second night in our VBS studies of The Virtuous Woman found in Proverbs 31. On Monday, the character trait we focused on was Faith. Tuesday we talked about wisdom.
My {Tangi} husband is teaching the high school class and one of his students quoted this:
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
It made me chuckle, but what a great way to put it.
I wonder how many times God has looked down at me from Heaven and saw me trying to put tomatoes in the fruit salad.
Do you pray for wisdom?
Myself? Not nearly enough. Usually, I ask for Godly wisdom when I have made such a mess out of things already. How different the landscape of my life would be if I had asked God to give me wisdom to begin with!
God knows that I need Him.
I need Him so much.
Generally, when I think about the verse Proverbs 14:1 Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands., I imagine a woman with scandalous behavior. I think of a woman who is dressed like a “woman of the night”, leaving her family to commit adultery and spending the grocery money on parties and clothes.
I know there are women like that, but that is just one side of the spectrum.
Women can damage their families just by being careless.
My husband made an excellent point to his high school class. He told them that there are a lot of smart people who are not wise and there are a lot of wise people who aren’t book smart. He went on to say that people who usually don’t make wise choices tend to have a lot of conflict in their lives. He went a little further and told his class {all guys} that if they marry a woman who had a habit of making unwise choices, those consequences would follow her into their marriage and effect their relationship. Isn’t marriage hard enough without added strain?
Am I right?
Can I get an amen?
..Ahem… moving on…
As you can see, my hubby is very wise. After all, he married me. 😉
I can’t help but to be honest with you. There are so, so, so, many things that I am not good at. I fail constantly. I’m impulsive. I can be selfish. I can be stubborn. I internalize my feelings until I explode– I have a long fuze, but it still ain’t pretty. {Gosh. Y’all pray for my husband!} I’d go on, but I’m embarrassing myself.
I really DO want to be a woman with Godly wisdom.
I really DO want to speak wisdom into the lives of my children.
I really Do want to help my husband by being that partner that helps him in making wise choices about our family.
Jesus really does love me. Not only does He love me so much He shed His blood for my soul, but He also has to deal with me. I’m thankful for His grace.
May God bless us with wisdom and may we all put our tomatoes in the correct salad. 😉
Vacation Bible School
Galatians 3:23-26
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Our church family starts its yearly Vacation Bible School tonight. This is a four night event that brings about eating, learning God’s word and crafts.
We love this time of year as we get to see many familiar faces, those we rarely see, and some new faces as well.
I (Dana) and my Aunt Tenito (pronounced Ta-ni-ta) is in charge of feeding the multitude. Tangi will be teaching the 5 and 6-year-old class and Laura will be capturing all the action via still photos and videos.
Proverbs 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
This year we will be learning about Proverbs 31 – The Virtuous Women. Our writers chose Women in the Bible that exhibited different traits described in Proverbs 31.
Monday night we learn about Hannah, an example of a Faithful Woman.
Tuesday night we learn about Abigail, a woman of beauty and wisdom. And Deborah, whom was both a prophetess and a judge.
Wednesday night we learn of Compassion from three women, Lydia, Ruth and the Shunammite Woman.
Thursday night we learn about Esther, an orphan girl who became queen. She was also a woman of Courage and clear judgement.
Friday night we learn about Purity and how Mary, the Mother of Jesus exhibited this trait.
We hope to bring you all the action, plus a little learnens’ about God’s wonderful word, cooking and craft making!
Hopefully, you will find something along the way that will help you in your life and possibly with your VBS.
Sound exciting?
Let’s get started!
Good Bless ya,
SGC
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