Amish Proverbs - Baker Publishing Group

MoneyWhere there’s money, you’ll find the devil.A full purse never lacks friends.Instead, the Amish give their highest respect to those who carewell for their homes and families and community, those who raisetheir children so they will grow up wanting to become Amish, andthose who help the next generation settle on farms. “It is a wealthyperson, indeed, who calculates riches not in gold but in friends.”The Amish put the brakes on accumulation and all of the distractionsand complications that come with it. There’s a pointwhere enough is enough, especially if it interferes with what istruly important to them: faith, family, community. That’s wherethey draw the line.Enough is enough is a rare concept for our modern world. Acurious finding by a 2009 study shines a spotlight on one resultof affluence: the higher the income, the less time a family spendstogether. 1 The decline in family time, the study found, coincidedwith a rise in Internet use and the popularity of social networks.The study found that, whether it’s around the dinner table or justin front of the television, American families are spending less timetogether.The Amish remind us that there is goodness and satisfactionin a simpler life.Where is your line drawn? When is enough, enough?29Suzanne Woods Fisher, Amish Proverbs, expanded editionRevell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2012. Used by permission.