The Journey: Day Thirty-Five--Emptying Our Crop

The Journey: Forty Days of Promise
Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity

Day Thirty-Five: Emptying Our Crop

Welcome to day thirty-five of our forty-day intercultural journey. From Martin Luther King Day to the end of Black History Month we are focusing on The Journey: Forty Days of Promise—Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity.

Day Thirty-Five: Emptying Our Crop[1]

Earlier we met Amanda Berry Smith as we listened to how her biological mother and grandmother guided her. Other female relatives and non-relatives were part of her community of counselors.

Smith recounts the agony of her soul due to a loveless marriage with her husband, James. One particular morning her heart was so sore that she felt she “could not bear any more.” She prayed, “Lord, is there no way out of this?” As she wept and prayed, “the Lord sent Mother Jones.”

In Mother Jones’ presence, Smith tries mightily to suppress her tears and her troubles. Seeing through the façade, Mother Jones pointedly inquires, “Well, Smith, how do you do?”

The dam burst. “O, Mother Jones, I am nearly heart-broken; James is so unkind.” Smith then shares everything she had tried, in her own effort, to change her husband, and “yet he was unkind.”

Mother Jones joins with Smith by sharing her story. “Well, that is just the way Jones used to do me.” She then integrates God’s story into her story and Smith’s story. “But when God sanctified my soul He gave me enduring grace, and that is what you need . . .”

At that moment, the spiritual light bulb came on. “That is just what I need; I have always been planning to get out of trials, instead of asking God for grace to endure.” Through Mother Jones’ mother wit, God enlightened Smith to the realization that finding God is more important than finding relief.

Learning Together from Our Great Cloud of Witnesses

1. We discovered numerous examples of mother wit in Amanda Berry Smith’s life and ministry. Which ones stand out to you? Why?

2. How could you apply them to your life and ministry?

[1]Excerpted from, modified from, and quoted from Kellemen and Edwards, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Purchase your copy at 40% off for only $10.00 at www.rpmministries.org.