How does the cliche' go? No good deed ever goes unpunished. I've decided this week that must be a twisted truth. My new saying is: no good deed ever goes unopposed. AND -- the follow up is that the better the deed, the higher the opposition. I'm into some really wonderful good deeds right now, some things that will make a difference in people's hearts.

So of course, the forces of darkness are lined up. They attack in different ways, some so subtle that I tend to miss them. I blame the messenger or react to the device that breaks, generally forgetting that we live in a world that is fundamentally at the heart of a spiritual battle.

I worked at a company that had a policy of not doing nice things for customers. That's right, it was against corporate policy to be nice. The feeling was that if a customer felt that they should be grateful to you, they'd see you as the enemy and somehow unintentionally sabotage the relationship. This was based upon years of corporate "research."

I think they missed the point. Doing good will always be opposed.

Anyone who follows my blog knows I seem to be allergic to making money. I can help other people make money, happily, but my own business...well, I would rather do something wonderful. I'd rather step in and help someone. A potential customer asked me the other day, "do you do work for poor people?" I laughed. "That's about all the work I do!"

And yet...I have not gone hungry since I was in my 20's. I live in a beautiful home and have all of my needs met...through the kindness of my husband and father-in-law. My husband has even said, "you don't have to start making money. What you have to do is be happy."

Hm. A rare gift.

As a child, I lived in a family where no gift came without strings. It is hard for me to accept a gift. Very hard.

Yet, that is all I have to do these days: accept these gracious gifts.

It reminds me that I serve a God who doesn't look at the problems or hindrances in the plan, but at the long-term goal. We're talking a being who didn't see dying as a problem in reaching His goal to spend eternity with the ones He loves. Y'know...from where I sit, that SEEMS like flawed logic. And yet...He knows.

So, this morning as I was looking over the disaster created by yet a stronger opposition, my heart said, "maybe they had it right. Maybe I shouldn't BE nice. Maybe it is unprofessional."

And then a small voice whispered, "Really? Don't you think you should send for reinforcements before giving up? Better yet, don't you think maybe you should see what my counter-attack will be?"

It really isn't acceptable to laugh at God, but I think He understood. I mean, He's the one who made the joke. In CHURCH.

Really -- what IS a little technical difficulty to God?

So, I decided that when the going gets tough, I'm going to look around for backup and wait to see just what evil stronghold I've started to break down this time. Besides, it's more fun this way.