I love summer, if only for the fact that I can spend some time reading books for me. Since becoming a Christian, my taste in reading material has changed dramatically. Gone are the trashy romance novels that are full of immorality. Gone are all the pop psychology, self-help books. Now, I look for books that will either help me learn more about Christ, or give me an example of Christ-honoring relationships.
Walk into a Christian bookstore and you'll see a wide variety of books. In the area of fiction, I have noticed many things in my search for quality authors. First, there are a handful of authors that write contemporary Christian fiction. I have enjoyed the writings of Terri Blackstock and Karen Kingsbury immensely. Some of their characters in their books have become like friends of mine. Their stories have touched my life and definitely influenced my walk with Christ for the better. When a character talks or thinks about their devotion time or Bible study time in a story, it is impacting to us Christian women that are trying very hard to be faithful to our own walk with Christ.
One of the things I have also noticed is that large amount of Christian fiction that is either historical or Amish. At first, I rebelled against these genres completely. I couldn't understand what a modern woman like me would have in common with these women from yesteryear... or that live like they are from yesteryear. Homeschooling impacted that belief in me as I read stories to and with my daughter about some of the amazing Christians in history and the odds they overcame. So, over time, I began to look into some of the stories that are more historical or Amish. To my surprise, I discovered that I really enjoyed them and got a lot out of them.
I began to ask myself why I enjoyed them. True, I had loved the Little House series and Little Women as a child. The strong characters impacted me greatly as a child. Since homeschooling, I had really enjoyed reading some of the Martha Finely novels... even the re-written ones. I have enjoyed many of the biographies we have read. I also love to read just to escape into another person's world. But, for some reason, I had shied away from the adult fiction that was more old-fashioned. Then one day I picked one up at the library. It was an Amish book, but it combined a storyline with Amish and non-Amish Christians. I really enjoyed that book. It was the beginning of a series, so I read the others. It sort of spiraled from there.
I realize that I am not the only one that is drawn to the more old-fashioned novels... or they wouldn't be selling so quickly and be so popular. I wondered why authors such as Janette Oake or the movies made by Michael Landon Jr off of her books hit a cord in America. I think, for the same reasons that Little House on the Prairie was such a hit in America for years, many Americans longs for the values that were central to the time. I believe the Amish books are popular for the same reason.
We may say it was a simpler time, but I don't think we mean that in the way of the work that had to be done or the challenges that had to be faced. I think Americans are starved for meaning. In our society, many of us feel that we are fighting against incredible odds just to raise our children. Unlike in history, that fight isn't against illnesses or wars, but against a culture that wants to take charge of our families. Many of us long for the time when faith in God was central to home and community. We wonder about the different mindsets where being a homemaker and a mother was honored as something noble, not just something useless because a woman can "get a job" and "do something with her life". We wish we had a culture where having character meant more than being one. We wish working hard and being honest were still a foundation of a God-honoring life. We long for a time when we actually knew our neighbors and community meant more than aggressive parents at a baseball game exchanging vulgar words over whether little Johnny was safe or out. We look in amazement at marriages that lasted for 60 or 70 years and ended with the actual "death do us part" instead of the 7 year itch (or less) union that ended in divorce and now little Susie has to split her weekends and holidays between two people that hate each other.
As much as we love our computers, cell phones, and ipods, we also know that life was lived very completely and fully long before these things. While a cyber-community can be an uplifting thing, we wonder if social network sites like Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter are weak imitations of quality relationships. And while we are glad that such topics as child abuse, pedophilia, and spousal abuse are no longer "hush-hush" topics and can be dealt with more appropriately, we wonder if there is much of a difference with the statistics saying that 1 out of 4 of our daughters is molested and over half of all marriages end in divorce with few having abuse or adultery as an underlying factor.
We look at the women that, in history or in the Amish community, didn't feel they had to "work" or "have a career" to be fulfilled; Before we thought that serving our families was demeaning and a "waste of a woman's potential". I say that with respect, because many wonderful women have careers that give a lot to society... but now it doesn't feel that there is a choice. The most common question I get, especially when finances are strained, is "Why don't you put your kids in daycare and get a job?" The stories of the Amish, or the ones historically based, are popular in the Christian market because the woman was honored for being a woman. Her choices may have been limited in education and career paths, and I have heard many horror stories, but today it feels like something is missing... or lost.
Mary Kassian had this to say in an article about June Cleaver on her Girls Gone Wise website about women of the 1950s. - "They placed a high value on character, marriage, children, and morality. They recognized that God created men and women with differences that, when honored, contribute to the well-being and stability of the home. Though not the ultimate foundation of happiness, every woman knows that when her marriage, children, home and relationships are doing well, she feels a whole lot happier than when they are not." Of course, the ultimate foundation of happiness comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Stories set in Amish culture or historical times hit a nerve with me because of what they show to value. I realize the stories are fiction. I know that there were many things in the past that were atrocities. I also realize that the Amish are not perfect. They are only people that believe in living simple and are striving to honor Christ in their lives. In these books, though, the very foundation of what is considered important is different. It isn't about affording that new car, or worrying that your child's day care center is going to raise their rates. The books are about families depending on each other, depending on God, and living their lives with a deeper purpose than the shallow, overly-busy existence we feel we are living in our time and culture in America.
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