When Doing Right Turns Out Wrong

When Doing Right Turns Out Wrong
Tuesday, August 7, 2018 by Dee Lundgren MA LPC

Couldn’t she have rewarded my honesty. Or praised me on the loud speaker, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’d like to congratulate this honest lady.”

None of that. Instead she instructed me to swipe my credit card. Without so much as a thank-you.

I had spent the last two and a half hours at Burlington Coat Factory. Never mind the name—they also sell home goods at fantastic prices. During the first hour my friend, Joann, spotted the distressed table. We both decided it would look great in my farmhouse chic living room. The problem was we couldn’t locate the price tag.

To save time, I hauled my perfect distressed table to the register so that the sales team could come up with a price before I checked out.

My friend and I took a while—we discovered a lot more finds. I was in the process of doing a long overdue whole house make-over. With three carts filled to overflow with an array of odd-shaped breakable treasures, we gingerly walked to the register. Without any home goods casualties.

The distressed table was now marked with a red clearance tag of $49. My friend and I high-fived each other in victory at the low price. I had been willing to pay much more.

Leaving the store presented the hurdle of getting three carts worth of accessories into a compact car. As we managed to push and wiggle the $49 red tag table into my backseat, I noticed another red tag. That red tag read $99.00.

Dilemma. Should I go back in?

One thing I was certain of was that I wasn’t going to haul the table out of my backseat. It was already tightly wedged in.

I took a picture of the original newly discovered price and marched to the front of the long line. I was hoping for a “thank you for your honesty” and “you don’t owe the extra $50.” Instead I got, “Please swipe your credit card.”

I felt somewhat indignant.

God reminded me that I don’t need to be rewarded for doing the right thing.

Sometimes doing the right thing costs you something. And often a lot more than $50.

I’m reminded of a client who has done the right thing in her marriage. She’s been a faithful and loving wife and mom. And yet her husband has sought satisifaction with a younger woman. Patti struggles with having done the right thing and it turned out wrong.

When Doing Right Turns Out Wrong—Finding Hope and Healing After Loss is the book I’m pitching to literary agents. I believe it’s a topic that many of us struggle with. It’s difficult when we do our best and it doesn’t turn out well.

When we experience devastating losses like divorce, miscarriage, theft, unemployment, or death of a spouse it’s tempting to stay stuck dwelling on the unfairness of life.

That’s where faith comes in. A verse that I often find great comfort in is found in the New Testament book of Hebrews.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

Would love to hear your comments.