January 27
While Help Is Still Simple
By the time we mention a difficulty, it may have become a crisis. We have spent days trying every private solution, growing more tired and more certain that nobody could understand. Asking for help now seems justified by the seriousness of the situation. Earlier, when help might have been simpler, we thought we should be able to manage.
There can be a quiet pride in allowing ourselves assistance only after we have exhausted every other possibility. It keeps us in charge of proving how little we need. Dependence on God and the fellowship invites a less dramatic relationship with help. A small confusion is allowed to be spoken about while it is still small. Another person need not rescue us to contribute something useful. A few minutes of honest conversation may become part of ordinary living, without the admission price of having first made ourselves miserable.
How much difficulty do I require before I believe I am allowed to ask?
Help need not wait for an emergency.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step Three, pp. 39–41.