March 23
Something We Know How to Do
Perhaps we are good at explaining a confusing form, welcoming a shy person, or keeping track of details. These abilities may seem too ordinary to count as gifts, especially beside someone whose story moves a whole meeting. We wait to have something more impressive to offer. Meanwhile, an actual need sits nearby, well within our ability, receiving little attention because it does not look much like the service we imagined.
A more accurate view of ourselves can make us available. We need not inflate an ability to use it, and we need not diminish it because someone else has a different one. What matters is whether it helps here. The same humility that allows us to admit a limitation allows us to acknowledge a competence. God may have use for the plain things we have learned, including the ones we rarely think to mention when describing ourselves.
What ordinary ability might I be overlooking because it does not feel impressive?
The ordinary task is waiting, too.
For the A.A. nerds: As Bill Sees It, No. 271, “A.A. in Two Words.”