Assets

 Assets are something we gain.  Talent is a gift.  I am not a fast runner.  I don’t have the short twitch muscles or build for it.  But I can run a long time at a steady pace.  That is a talent which I developed.  Someone might have the talent for being beautiful in the sense that it was a given, a gift from heredity.  But an asset is when you become a beautiful person from the inside.  You can speak and act the language of the heart.  You can become selfless, patient, accepting, kind and so on.  You can become a good teacher.  In my case I am working on becoming a good priest, knowing there are so many better than me at being a priest.  Sobriety is an asset, not a talent.  No one gets sober naturally.  They work at it.  Outside of being able to run slowly for a long time, everything else about me seems to be an asset.  Life is work.