Along the winding back roads of Kentucky you can find, nestled in the foothills of the Cumberland River Valley, a community of people who are a bit peculiar. A people so fully aware of the cares of this world, yet, they are so unencumbered by those same cares. They are a people so untouched by the world’s seeming nonsense that one can do nothing but slow down and take it all in.
On this particular day in late April, I am the one who has chosen to slow down. I want to be the one to soak in every detail of the moment… from the womenfolk talking quietly in the kitchen to the menfolk in the next room reminiscing about days long ago… even the grandchildren, mustering up every ounce of restraint that they can find, working hard to honor Grausedawdie’s wishes of quiet respect for the moment when all they really want to do is to find themselves knee-deep in a wild game of King’s Base with their cousins. Even the lone, retired FBI agent, who has found a quiet place to land amongst this community, has come to be part of the moment.
So what has drawn this rag tag group of individuals together? The “link,” the “draw” if you will, is a life well lived — a life lived as a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, an aunt, a wife, a mother, a grandmother (grausemommie), a friend, a mentor, a mid-wife, a child of God. Lizzie Ann (Yoder) Schwartz did what a rare few will ever be able to accomplish. She squeezed every last ounce of life out of every last second she was on this earth. She did not have to do it with pomp and circumstance; that was not her style. She did it in unassuming strength and grace. She did it in acts of service and giving to her fellow humans. She did it all because of her devotion and commitment to a steadfast and good God.
Strength and grace are two words that aren’t always synonymous with sunshine and rainbows; however, without them there would be no sunshine or rainbows. Lizzie’s 53 years of a committed marriage saw its share of heartache and rejoicing. Strength and grace are what carried her through the valleys of life that helped her bury three daughters way before their time. That same strength and grace brought much rejoicing with 5 sons, 7 daughters, and 55 grandchildren, all healthy and happy and part of a living legacy. That is a life well lived.
Service and giving came as second nature to Lizzie. It was nothing for a knock to be heard at her door any time, day or night. Such is the life of a midwife, especially an Amish midwife. Those hands-hands of service and giving-have caught many a baby in many a communities through the years. The most amazing part of all, aside from helping to deliver at least 38 of her very own grandchildren, not one baby was ever lost on Lizzie Ann Schwartz’s watch. That is a life well lived!
Steadfast and good are the last two elements of how it is that Lizzie was able to squeeze every last ounce of life out of every last second of her life. An unwavering belief that the great big God of the universe is really who He says He is and He will do ALL that He says He will do. Realizing that she was nothing without God’s grace and that her life was void outside of the steadfast goodness of God, Lizzie Ann knew that these two factors alone were a bedrock for the strength and grace that carried her through the highs and lows of her life and became her motivation to serve and give so freely to ALL she came in contact with here on earth. Now that is a life well lived.
From the women in the kitchen, to the men reminiscing about days gone by, to the grandchildren longing to play King’s Base, even to the lone FBI agent, all of us — in our own way — slowed down for a bit that day to reflect and breathe in a touch of that life-giving force…
… of a life well lived.
Respectfully…
LJS
P.S. According to Wikipedia: “In 2020 there were 31 states of the United States that had a significant Amish population.
The Amish have settled in as many as 31 US-states though about 63% are located in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. The greatest concentration of Amish is in Holmes and adjoining counties in northeast Ohio, about 78 miles south of Cleveland. Next in size is a group of Amish people in Elkhart and surrounding counties in northeastern Indiana. Then comes the Amish settlement in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. According to Albrecht Powell, the Pennsylvania Amish has not always been the largest group of U.S. Amish as is commonly thought.
The Amish population in the U.S. numbers more than 270,000 and is growing rapidly, due to large family size (seven children on average) and a church-member retention rate of approximately 80%.”