I have always loved to read and study about the Amish. If I were not a true Southern Baptist, I believe I would convert to the Old Order Amish religion.
I appreciate their peaceful calm tranquility in the ways of working and doing for others. I believe we could all learn from these serene people. The work ethic is so ingrained into them that they rise in the early morning hours to begin their workdays and end in the dark.
The most worthy attribute of the Amish is their desire to care for their own. They do it not only when someone is in need due to a death or sickness, but also they have that essential desire to help others in their everyday lives. They have no health or home owners’ insurance. If someone has to spend time in a health care unit, the churches pool their money and help them pay the bills. If houses or barns burn, the churchgoers again provide the provisions and labor to rebuild so that the one in the adversity is blessed by the hearts of the people.
They share their garden’s abundance with neighbors and friends with the joy of giving.
How much better would our lives flow if we could share our abundance with our people in need? I have seen mothers in grocery stores telling a small child that they cannot afford the chocolate bar they are wanting, or have to put back some of her groceries because her money just would not stretch far enough to pay for all the provisions she had gathered. The look on the child’s face is overwhelming as we watch this play out. Could we not just offer to add that candy bar or add that can of vegetables to our total? My very best friend has a heart for people to the point that I have sometimes chastised her for being so freely giving.
One Christmas season they were in a toy store and a lady behind them was trying to pay for a toy her child wanted for Christmas but due to the surgeries from which the child was recovering, money was just too meager. As my friend listened, her heart was so touched she turned and offered to buy the toy for the child and received one of the biggest blessings she had ever welcomed. She once picked up a woman walking in bad weather with a child to get to a bus station in order to get home.
No, she did not know the woman, but her mother’s heart knew that mother’s heart, so she carried her to the terminal and gave her all the tad of money she had her in wallet. Oh to have a heart like that! We do not have to be Amish or Baptist or any other faith to have this open-handed heart and want to help those who struggle. Most of us are blessed beyond measure. We may not necessarily have wealth, but we probably have some means to help those who are needy.
Perhaps it might be just a big hug or a kind word. It does not always have to be monetary, but there is someone somewhere that needs our support just waiting for our generosity.
We have our cabbage and onions planted and will put our corn in the ground in the next week. This is a recipe that you can play with until you get it just right.
Cabbage-Corn Slaw
2 T. honey (or to your taste), 2 T. olive oil, 5 T. lemon juice, salt and pepper. !/4 small shredded cabbage, 1 sliced bell pepper, 1 cup of corn niblets - Mix honey, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and pour over cabbage, bell pepper and corn. Toss and chill.
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Peggy Sims is a local food columnist and resident of Kosciusko.
