Perfection

Thoughtfood for Saturday, October 16, 2009

Perfection

I never have been and never can be perfect.

As that realization became a part of me -- and it took time --

it brought me one of the greatest of the many blessings

that have come to me from AA.

I learned to accept myself as a fallible human being.

I do not have to strive for perfection.

Mistakes are permissible.  I have the right to be wrong.

- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 2], pp.167-8

From the Big Book:

"He had also been greatly helped by the late Dr. William D. Silkworth, a New York specialist in alcoholism who is now accounted to less that a medical saint by A. A. members, and whose story of the early days of our Society appears in the next pages.  From this doctor, the broker had learned the grave nature of alcoholism.  Though he could not accept all the tenets of the Oxford Groups, he was convinced of the need for moral inventory, confession of personality defect, restitution to those harmed, helpfulness to others, and the necessity of belief in and dependence upon God."

c. 1955, AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreward To Second Edition, p. xvi. 

Prayer for the day:

"I pray that the hidden power within my may be released.  I pray that I may not imprison the spirit that is within me."

c. 1975, Hazedlen Foundation, Twenty-Four Hours A Day, Oct. 16.

Quote for the day:

"If you chase perfection, you often catch excellence." __William Fowble

My share:

I've never harbored thoughts of being perfect, even when totally in my cups. It has always been obvious to me that I am merely human.  But before I found the spiritual program that A.A. has to offer, I beat myself up for falling short of flawless. Today I embrace my foibles as opportunities to make adjustments.  Progress, even daily progress, will still leave me shy of perfection.

Be Good To You, Dave