February 2
All the Things I Am Doing
Our calendar is full of worthwhile activity, yet the people closest to us seem to get what is left over. We can explain every commitment. Each helps somebody, each sounds responsible, and together they make it difficult to hear a question about whether we are actually available. Being busy doing good can become a remarkably convincing defense.
Prayer may interrupt that defense long enough for us to consider what our activity is serving. Perhaps we enjoy being useful where we are admired and avoid the quieter places where we owe patience or repair. Perhaps we have simply agreed to more than we can carry. Either possibility deserves attention rather than another commitment. Living faith includes direction as well as motion. Asking for guidance can help us discover which responsibilities genuinely belong to us, and which activities have become a comfortable way to remain absent from them.
What responsibility may be hidden behind my list of worthwhile activities?
Somebody at home has been waiting for my attention.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step Eleven, pp. 102–103.