The Beacon of Loving Goodness (02/04/2024)

Daily I thank the LORD for those who have guided me and accompanied me along the way. I have been blessed by their loving goodness, their example, their teachings. One whom I give thanks for often is Ethel Scott, an African American woman and mother of seven who worked for my family for several years. I remember as I grew older wishing I could find the well of her loving goodness because she seemed to have an abundance of it.

Often when she’d find me quietly hiding after school, she’d guess that it hadn’t been a good day, and she’d encourage me to be kind to those who had caused me pain. I remember once saying, “You want me to be loving in spite of their hatefulness?” Her answer surprised me so that it is etched on my heart. “No, not in spite of but because of. Love’s the only way to light up a world dark because of hatred.”

As I’ve grown older, I’ve realized how wise Ethel was and the gift she gave to me. She wasn’t Catholic; she was Baptist. But she and I often spoke of Jesus. How she loved the LORD. Her life was not easy, but she saw every obstacle as an invitation to live her faith more loudly and to answer hate with loving goodness. Loving goodness was Ethel’s etch-a-sketch. When she encountered hatred, she’d shake it up and erase it with goodness.

Ethel should have been a theologian. She had a way of seeing the spiritual that would put the modern theology authors to shame. And she was so right about so many things. I recall the day I was in theology class for my first degree and Jesus’ salvific mission finally made sense to me. And I thought of Ethel. Jesus didn’t come into the world in spite of our sin; He came because of our sin and to defeat the darkness of hatred and sin through the light of pure love.

As we continue our journeys of faith, knowing we will all experience moments that test us and even moments that shake us and hurt us, let us remember what our savior taught us, “love one another as I have loved you.” We don’t live lives of loving goodness simply because we are surrounded by it in our world. We live it because we’ve experienced it through Christ and know that it is the right response. We know that we will never be able to battle the darkness of hate and evil except through the light of love.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.

Thoughts? Questions? Requests? – katewiskus@gmail.com