June 10
Known Well Enough
There is value in a person who remembers more than our latest version of events. They recall what frightened us before, what we said we wanted, and what happened the last time we made a similar promise. That memory can be inconvenient. It is also one of the gifts of allowing a relationship to last.
We might prefer advice from someone who knows only this week's facts. They will not notice a familiar pattern or ask what became of an earlier decision. A trusted person who knows us over time offers another kind of help. Their memory need not become a permanent indictment; people change, and old accounts sometimes need correcting. But continuity can keep a passing mood from presenting itself as the whole truth. Being known gives our present difficulty a place within a larger life, including progress we may have forgotten as thoroughly as our mistakes.
Who knows enough of my life to help me see beyond this week's account?
A longer friendship holds more than today's trouble.
For the A.A. nerds: As Bill Sees It, No. 289, “When Conflicts Mount.”