Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Can I get a witness?

I hear voices, really not regular voices- A gospel choir. They sing to me in my head- they wear blue satin robes with white collars. And at various times through out the day I hear...
"Can I get a witness, wit-ness
Can I get a witness, wit-ness"

They are clapping and swaying very enthusiastically. My children often hear me join in with my choir and watch me jive and clap as I sing in the kitchen.

So either, I have some deep unfulfilled need for affirmation. Or maybe this is call for me to witness to others. Whatever the reason it's there.

Why a gospel choir? Not exactly sure. It certainly does not come from the choir of my religious heritage, the good old Mormon Tabernacle choir. They don't break into such exultant jubilee.

Maybe it's because a few years back though I served in an inner city branch of our church once and my favorite thing was as you gave a talk, the branch president (congregational leader) who was of course sitting behind the speaker, would gently nod his head in approval as you were talking and if you said something good you would get an audible "mm-hmm" as you spoke. And if the congregation liked your words you got especially loud Amen at the end. I loved the way other's truly witnessed with you.
Truth always deserves a hearty affirmation. So next time I am at church I'll be looking for some subtle head nods, and listening for some heart-felt amens--

"I wanna get witness, wit-ness"
1.snow day 2. clean house 3. fun with my boys

11 comments:

LL said...

AMEN Smart Mama AMEN!
you get all kinds of nods at church....we all worship you ;)

LL said...

btw..LOVE that you used the word jubilee and the thoughts of Bishop E nodding in the background with a "mmm-hmmm" makes me LAUGH!!!

Anonymous said...

I love this post. Put it up at Segullah some time! I love the inner-city branch story.

smart mama said...

You know I think bishop E has the mm-hmm mastered- I have heard it before in his offie- we just need to implement puplit use~

Smilin' sunshine said...

I don't see a lot of people at church giving anyone an extra loud amen at the end of anything.....
That would require they be listening.

Unknown said...

mmm-hmmm....
i will be a witness, a witness; i will be your witness, YES! I will.
AMEN.

Swimmingmom said...

Hey, you are welcome to come sing, witness, and amen all you want at our house- we do get the gospel music channel you know!

andrea said...

oh my gosh...you are such a freak, LOL. That is the best picture I have seen on a blog in a long time. In fact, it is now my desktop wallpaper.

I think the line between Les and Svelvet is starting to blur...

smart mama said...

oh andrea- you know just how real this is...

I wanted to get a really good shot of me jiving in my kitchen but alas- I was in my pjs looking disgraceful last night as I typed!

so happy to entertain

Carrie Snider said...

That is awesome! All I have are the sounds of my boys' toys in my head.

Anonymous said...

This is really funny to me...it brings back memories, as I was not raised LDS, I grew up in that "holy roller" kind of church that you are describing..sometimes I miss the excitement and just want to stand up and start dancing and singing in the aisles. You can get an Amen and a Hallelujah!!