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THIS MONTH’S QUESTION:
What does restoration look like in your community?
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Jerry: Restoration. The word has a ring to it—something restored to its former luster and shine. When we think about restoring or rebuilding an old car, tractor, or worn-out piece of equipment and bringing it back to its former state, seeing the finished product is exciting. Still, as with many things in life, we fail to see the work, the mind-numbing amount of elbow grease that went into making the old new again.
Restoration usually takes a lot of time, regardless of what we are restoring. Is it not so with life; are not our churches full of restored sinners? Yes, we do well to use our Bible as a roadmap, and first and foremost restoration needs to be personal. In Matthew, Jesus taught so well the lesson involving the mote and the beam. And in Galatians, “Brethren, if a brother be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness…” The Christian life is a continual struggle, and we need to be surrounded with fellow believers who will help us as we travel along.
Allow me to tell you a little story about my mother. We will pick up her story in 1965 when she buried a child. My mom’s life involved many difficult times. She had 12 children in 16 years, so there were many days of not feeling well. In February of 1971, my dad passed away under tragic circumstances—he lost his grip of reality and died under his own hand, leaving 11 children, a farm, and debt. The load for Mom was very heavy at times—more than she thought she could bear.
In January of 1978, the famous blizzard took down the barn. This was the old eight-corner barn, a landmark that stood for many years along County Road 172. With the help of neighbors, church people, and complete strangers, that barn was rebuilt. Ten years later, tragedy struck again—this time, a barn fire. I was still living at home, being the youngest in the family, and I well remember Mom sitting on the front steps of the old farmhouse lamenting the fact that it was her again. Could it not have been someone else? Why, oh why, do I have to drink this cup again?
Deeply moved by her plight, a neighbor man of few words stepped up to Mom.
He laid his hand on her shoulder and said these timely words: “Ach Verna, we will just build another one.” Yes, twelve days later, another barn stood erected once again with the aid of the community, and such is restoration, done quietly without great cheers, without great publicity, just a monument to the human spirit.
In meekness, not one of the people who worked or helped wanted to be singled out as the one who “did it,” truly not letting the left hand know what the right hand gives. As it says in the Bible, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God...casting all your care upon him; for He careth for you.”[i] So many times in the restoration process, we like to cast our cares upon Him, and we forget the humbling part.
As the years passed and Mom’s health declined, my wife and I had the opportunity to sit by her bedside; when it became obvious that Jesus would soon take her home, we still had the time to ask her a few questions. I remember the dark days, the days when Mom’s tears mingled with the dishwater, when she saw almost no life at the end of the tunnel, when she came to the supper table with a small dish of cottage cheese and smiled so slightly and said, “I am just not hungry.” When grief and cares of this life almost overcame her...yet, she plugged on for her children, yes, always for her children. I understand this now. It was in the last days of her life when we sat at her bedside, and I asked her, “Mom, your life, was it a long time?” She answered, “Ach Jerry, it was a few days, and I had such a good life.” I know of no better example of restoration.
Yes, God’s grace is sufficient for all circumstances. So, as we continue to seek to live a life of restoration–be it spiritually, physically, or healing of the land–remember it takes a lifetime.
Ivan: He inquired about his fellow brethren back in Jerusalem. He asked about their well-being. The answer that he got, “[They] are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned.” The Prophet Nehemiah was concerned about the remnant of Jews that had returned to Jerusalem. It had been over 150 years since Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and nearly a century since some of the Jews had returned to Jerusalem. Their work in rebuilding the Temple had taken 20 years, and because their work was hindered by the Gentiles, they were never able to complete the walls and gates.
Nehemiah asked permission from the Persian King to go back to Jerusalem and complete the walls. After arriving in Jerusalem, he assembled the Jewish nobles. He explained to them his mission to rebuild the walls. Their reply was, “Let us rise up and build.” Nehemiah had a vision, but he knew that he could not do it himself; standing together and by the work of many hands, they could accomplish it. Later Nehemiah said, “So we built the wall… for the people had a mind to work.”
As progress was made, they were once again hindered by their Gentile neighbors. They tried to destroy their work. Half of the workmen had to stand guard, and the other half continued the work. They did not despair but continued forward towards their goal of rebuilding the wall.
When there is a catastrophe in our community, causing damage to property or buildings, many of the community members come together to help clean up and rebuild. This summer, we had a damaging windstorm go through our community. Many people pulled together, cleaning up the damage, helping to rebuild the destroyed buildings, and cleaning up the many downed trees.
In order to be able to restore something, like Nehemiah, we must come to the realization that something is in need of repair or rebuilding.
Over the years, our lifestyle has heavily revolved around agriculture. We read through history how our forefathers moved from one area to the other throughout Europe. They were recognized as farmers who were able to restore unused and barren fields to productive farmland. Their life revolved around their faith and raising food for their family’s survival. The first order of business upon arriving in America was to clear the land and plant their crops. They continued to restore the areas they inhabited to become productive for their sustenance.
Most of the Amish continued to be involved in some sort of agriculture-related occupation through the 1950s and 1960s. Over the last 75 years, that has gradually changed. According to research done in the Ohio Amish Directory, in 1980, 55% of our households were occupied in farming and other agriculture-related occupations. The rest were in construction, manufacturing, and woodworking, along with a few other outlying occupations. Twenty years later, in 2000, we had 30% of our families making a living off agriculture-related activities, while almost 40% of our population was involved in lumber or woodworking-related occupations. We fast forward another twenty years to 2020, and our agriculture-related occupation has dwindled to only 20% of the population, with construction, lumber, and woodworking occupying 60% of our people.
Our Amish community has shifted from being an agriculture-related community to being a manufacturing community. We are known throughout the country for quality and craftsmanship. This shift has also affected the way that we live. As our livelihood has shifted away from agriculture, our discretionary income has increased. We see more leisure time and a consumer-minded lifestyle. Do we consume more of our food than we produce? How much of the food that we eat was raised on our property or farm? How much of it was raised within five miles or within our community?
While the majority of us are no longer making our living off the farm, our children can still enjoy the values that come with an agrarian lifestyle. We can do this by putting our hands in the dirt or teaching animal husbandry to the next generation.
In recent years there seems to be a spark rekindling amongst our people to raise more of our own food. Families are planting more vegetables and fruit trees and butchering their own animals. The joy and values that a family experiences when the first berries ripen or when the pig has a new litter of piglets cannot be replicated. Oh, the joy after a day of butchering and packaging the meat in our canning jars and freezers. The taste of the juicy peach as you bite into it and juice dribbles down over your chin. You stand reveling among the fruit trees in awe of a Creator who allows the seasons to come and go. He ordained the… seedtime and harvest, and cold, and heat, and summer and winter…
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Ivan, Emma, and their four children live on a 12-acre homestead where they strive to raise as much of their own food as possible. Each year they have a large garden, harvest from their orchard, use raw milk from their own cow, and process chicken, turkey, beef, and pigs for their freezers. Ivan is a minister in the local Amish community. He builds tiny homes and animal shelters for a living. His models can be seen on tinyhomeliving.com or by calling 330-852-8800.
Jerry and Gloria Miller, along with their six children, operate Gloria’s home farm, a 173-acre organic dairy. They milk between 60 and 70 cows with a few small cottage industries supplementing the farm income. Jerry is a deacon in his local Amish church. Questions and comments can be directed to Jerry at 330-600-7481.