Mom-It Monday: Finding Purpose

Hey Mama,

Have you ever struggled with feeling like your everyday is mundane and... Well, pointless? I think we all struggle with such feelings from time to time as moms, and it makes our jobs so much harder when we feel lost and without purpose. I had been in the midst of a period like that when I found a video on YouTube about how Amish women approach motherhood and running a household. The Amish lifestyle has always intrigued me, so I was instantly curious about the video.

As we all know, the Amish way of life is drastically different from the creature-comfort filled, technology driven world we live in. Amish choose to live without modern amenities such internet and electricity. They also tend to follow more stereotypical gender roles within their homes. With that being the case, Amish women take on a substantial job in running the home and caring for their families. With no modern amenities like washing machines or dishwashers, Amish women face an arduous task keeping on top of things... one that many women in today's "English" (i.e., the name Amish use for people outside of their community) society would find utterly exhausting. The interesting thing is that Amish women do it, and they do it daily.

So, how do Amish women find the strength to run their households with minimal to no modern amenities? Well, according to the video I watched, it starts when they are young girls. From a very young age, Amish girls are "trained" in what it takes to be an Amish wife. Everything from cooking to laundry to tending a vegetable patch is covered in this "training" girls in the Amish community receive, and interestingly, as a result of this "training," many Amish girls are able to prepare an entire meal by themselves by the age of 12 years old. They're also able to help with and hang laundry by the age of 8 years old, and by age 15, many Amish girls can effectively run a household, a crazy concept for teenagers in the technology driven world most of us are used to, especially when you consider what goes into managing an Amish home. Needless to say, I was intrigued to find out how Amish women do so much... and often with a seeming sense of pride and joy in their work.

The answer? Amish women have a community that surrounds and supports them from childhood through engagement, and into their first year of marriage. Specifically during an Amish women's engagement and first year of marriage, they are surrounded by elder women in the community who teach them effective, age-old methods for everything from the organization of their pantry and managing the intricacies of their new wood-stove to starching their husband's shirts and sewing quilts. I found myself thinking of what modern Americans might refer to as their "church family" as I watched this portion of the video. People who surround you and your family as you walk through life. The difference in my mind was that in the Amish world, the community support seems to be much stronger and long-lasting. It's not just weekly visits on Sundays when you see each other in church; it's scheduled gatherings where new wives receive advice and knowledge from older women within their community and weekly visits with their mothers-in-law to refine the ways in which they manages their home, as well as regular "inspections" to help a new Amish wife master the skills required for managing an Amish home. Amish women have a constant flow of support as they navigate being a homemaker and wife, and it continues well past their first year of marriage.

From communal work frolics where Amish women gather to complete large, seasonal tasks together, to older women in the community stepping in to run a household for several weeks after an Amish mom gives birth, the community support system within an Amish settlement is tight-knit and strong. Alongside the community support, Amish women are taught that what the modern American woman might view as a mundane task (e.g., laundry) is a form of worship. In the Amish community, specific tasks are connected to biblical texts creating a sense of purpose and reverence in the everyday, household chores. It is this community support in combination with their faith that helps Amish women achieve what seems to be an impossible task regularly... running an Amish home.

As the video concluded, I found myself feeling inspired. I wanted to be that kind of homemaker and wife... one who finds purpose and spiritual connection in the day to day. I wanted to learn to manage my time more effectively and not spend as much time idly scrolling on my phone while I wait for laundry to finish or a pot of water to boil. I found the question posed towards the end of the video thought-provoking. The narrator of the video speaks about how all of our modern amenities provide us with more time through simpler, more efficient completion of tasks, but what are we doing with that time? For me, the answer was eye-opening and left me with that much more motivation and inspiration to change the way I approach the task of running my home. I hope you're able to find similar inspiration if/when you take the 15 minutes to watch the video linked above. Thanks for reading, and sharing in these few moments of inspiration with me. May God bless you and your family richly in the coming week. <3

~Homeschool Mama

P.S. This week's Mom-It Monday post was a bit different in layout and form. I really wanted to share the inspiration I found through watching that video about how Amish women run their homes. If you like content like this, would you let me know by leaving a comment below? Also, if you're new here and like what you see, please consider subscribing and telling your homeschool community about this blog. Finally, click here to check out more Mom-It Monday content, and click here to check out June's Homeschool Happenings post. Thanks for visiting, and see you on Wednesday!!! 😄