This is–if you have not met Jenny, this is what you need to know–that after you meet her one time, you could pass her on the corner in Salt Lake and she will say "Love you!" And that is Jenny Reeder.
Well, Jenny, people should know that are listening, that Jenny Reeder is one of my favorite humans on the face of the planet. Hi, I'm so excited to be with you today, Morgan. And I am so honored to have Jenny Reeder on the line with me today, Jenny, welcome. This is All In, an LDS Living podcast where we ask the question, what does it really mean to be all in the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I'm Morgan Jones. She co-edited two books, At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women with Kate Holbrook and The Witness of Women: Firsthand Experiences and Testimonies from the Restoration with Janice Johnson.
She has a PhD in American history from George Mason University and a master's degree in history, documentary editing and archival management from New York University. Jennifer, or as you'll hear me call her throughout our interview, Jenny Reeder is a 19th century women's history specialist in the Church history department. It is for this reason that I think we have a lot to learn from Emma and her husband, the Prophet Joseph Smith. Isn't that true of all of us? We are all just doing the best we can with our weeds and thistles of mortality. They did the best they could with what they had in their weeds and thistles of mortality," end quote. Ideas, relationships, culture and practices evolved.
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Together, they learned how to create Zion, often because they experienced malaria and mud, business failure and loss of property. Joseph, along with Emma and many others, had to figure out what it meant to restore the Church. I like to say that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ did not give Joseph a handbook binder in the Sacred Grove during the First Vision. I believe that she and Joseph talked through a lot of things, not only in their marital relationship, but in understanding his visions and revelations. At times she was measured and diplomatic, but when pressed, she could become outwardly defensive–even a bit feisty. She expanded her definitions of home, family, and relief, something that I too am learning to do with my own situations. She walked across frozen rivers and trod deep in mud as she figured out how to hold it all together. She feared for the health and safety of her children, her husband and herself.
She was complicated and had real struggles like I do. That makes me love Emma even more deeply. I know what that is like, I am very familiar with that pattern of progression. It was one step forward, two steps backward, then a little to the left. Reeder writes, "Emma's life was not a smooth trajectory of progress. I think this paragraph from the book best sums up what we have to learn from Emma. But as I have read this book, I have come to love her and to appreciate her in a way I never did before. Someone who, like me, had a lot of feelings and sometimes felt very conflicted. And not just a person, but a trusted friend. I have heard stories of Emma Smith my entire life, but it wasn't until reading Jennifer Reeder’s new book, First: The Life and Faith of Emma Smith, that Emma became a real person to me.
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