Its actually hard for me to begin this post with a creative spin. Rather, I find myself slipping into the “Did this”, “Did that”, and more.  There have been a days when I have slipped into a state of dispair and confusion, but non were like that which I have experience the last couple weeks.  It began when for the second time I was told by my boss, “you are going to take the H1N1 Vaccination”. So I when home and prayed about it for 3 days.  It is, to me,  something I am very much against, not only medically, but socially and ethically.  I did however come to the same conclusion both times of prayer…I will not consent!  “Thats okay”, came the reply, “you can just write me an email for your resignation”.  I said, “I dont intend to quit”, he said “okay, your terminated”.  I went home feeling I did the right thing even though the consequences were somewhat dire.

A few days later we had other issues that we began to mull over- of which I will not cover here.  Again, discussed with Wife, Family, friends and prayed, then came the conclusion.  After making the decision (a very big decision!) it was made clear to me that I could not carry it out.  Now what? I thought to myself, I thought I prayed about it and did all I could to make sure I was doing the right thing.  But when it came down to it God had other plans.

So again, I sit where I was the day after the termination.  No job.  Work prospects are at a low.  I am setting in a situation where I feel I cannot control a thing.  Funny.  I began reading a book about Amish Enterprises.  I ran across the word, Gelassenheit (Gay-la’-sen-hite) which is a German word that has a complex meaning.  It is an important part of Amish life, this yieldedness, letting be, or the submission to the will of God,  is a concept that comes from the Bible when Jesus said, “not my will but thine be done,” thereby making individuality, selfishness, and pride, abhorrent. “He submits to Christ, loses his own will, and yields (Gelassenheit) himself in all areas.” Serving others and submitting to God, therefore, permeates all aspects of Amish life. A person’s personality must be modest, reserved, calm, and quiet. The values which must be apparent in a believer’s actions are submission, obedience, humility and simplicity. Gelassenheit should be the overriding aspect for every person within the Amish community, and it must be viewable through actions and possessions.

I dont beleive that I was wrong in objecting to the shot as it was an invasive issue one that was a requirement to live, only to hold my job which God will provide another.  But, in the subsequent days when I was considering my situations and issues, I neglected to take into account that God has a plan for our life and that by trying to force a move one way or the other (the path I deceded), I didnt yeild to Gods positional plan for us.  Rather, I tried to reposition ourselves as we thought fit.

So, to bring this to a close, I have learned that God has control not us.  He opens doors, not us.  He walks, we follow, not the other way around. In this way, we submit or Gelassenheit to Gods will for us and we remove our individualistic approach to life there by making our success second to God’s and our progress dependent on Gods choices, which are always better than ours.  The growth of the Amish prove this is a realistic approace and a much better alternative to modern pessimism.

One additional note, different subject, I am almost finished with a new CD and I now know the title I will give it.  The song “My Little One’s Waiting for Me” will also be the title tune as I thought it appropriate since I have a new baby girl and there is an Original tune I created titled “Sweet Abby Rose”.  As of right now there will be 6 vocals on a 14 track CD.  My friend David Scrivner helped me with a good number of them.  I played guitar for him for his fiddle tunes and he played guitar for my fiddle tunes.  The new mic is working great and the recording is much better then before.  I am excited about this new CD.  All the tunes are from the Ozarks area.  I still have much research to do on historys and such but I hope it will be ready by Feburary or March.  Much of it depends on my work situation and how much I can invest in the CD’s.  As usual when it is completed it will be available through our Online Store or iTunes.