“A few are fortunate enough to be so situated that they can give nearly all their time to the work.” (Page 19)
If one’s circumstances are such that there is less work, less money, more time to play with, this is not to be viewed as a curse, since firstly this is precisely the situation set out above, the clearing of the way to be useful in the way that God wishes. It is something that one should be grateful for.
Now, of course, one should not be negligent about financial and material matters and one should perhaps look out for actions that God enjoins one to perform in order to facilitate work in the material world, but this needn’t be a grave concern; everything really is in God’s hands, and one can relax, ask, listen, and get on with it.
But the greatest thing in each day really is the ‘work’ of carrying the message to others, and it is this that makes life worthwhile. The more, the better, up to a point.
“None of us makes a sole vocation of this work, nor do we think its effectiveness would be increased if we did.” (Page 19, Big Book)
The situation (“to be so situated”) also includes being morally and spiritually prepared: too much too soon, and the individual can easily think they have it cracked, that they know everything, that they’re ahead of or above the crowd, and one can get sucked into other people’s problems as there’s not too much else in one’s life to take one’s attention.
God will always rectify this, but one has to do one’s part: remain humble, concentrate on demonstrating rather than analysing, fixing, or directing, don’t reinvent the wheel or, heaven forbid, devise your own programme, keep it simple, and don’t professionalise, of course in terms of money, but in terms of being a ‘full-time AA’ with this the sole vocation. Few indeed are equipped to pull it off.