Peg Pyle (1922-2009)

I haven’t blogged much this past month. Have been darting back and forth across 10 time zones. Africa for two weeks, back to ATL for a few days, out to California, rushing back to attend my children’s beloved grandmother (Susan’s mother), Mary Margaret Milligan (“Peg”) Pyle, in Tallahassee, FL.

Peg was the happiest person I ever knew--forever smiling, even in the worst of circumstances. And it wasn’t because she was oblivious to circumstances, but because she always believed her relationship with God and her family were what mattered most in life, and those relationships were rock solid.

As a young man, I always chaffed at the word “good.” “He is a good guy,” “She is a good person,” etc. For me, it always sounded like the person saying it didn’t know what to say, so it was a catchall phrase that meant nothing of importance. Peg redeemed the word for me. She was good to others, jumping in to serve those in need at every opportunity, good to her children, grandchildren, and great children.

She was also good to me, even when I no longer deserved her “goodness.” But as I understand the nature of “goodness,” this is what being “good” is all about. Peg wasn’t good to others because they deserved it but because this was simply who she was: a good woman.

Think about it.

God doesn’t love us and certainly isn’t “good” to us so much because we deserve it, but because this is who he is. God loves because he IS love. God is Good because he IS Good.

It seems to me that this is how we are to be-have. We love because he first loved us, even in all our sordid messiness. We are good to others, not because they have “earned” it, but because he is good to us, even when we are so undeserving.

In one of my last discussions with Peg, I was asking her forgiveness for something that I had done that hurt her terribly. I was expecting what I deserved: her wrath. What she gave me, however, was a hug, a brief prayer, her forgiveness, and some counsel for my future that was more profound than any of what my high-priced counselors had given me. She did all of this because this is who she was, a good and loving woman.

While some people of faith seem to believe that the way to get someone on The Straight and Narrow is to heap condemnation on wayward heads and hearts, Peg, following God’s lead, knew that loving-kindness was far more effective.

Peg made a difference for good in all of her relationships, especially with her family. Her children and grandchildren are better people because of who she was as a person. And at the end of the day, what greater epitaph is there.

Copyright, Monte E. Wilson, 2009