Can someone tell me where "progress not perfection" came from? Was it a grapevine article or just another saying that popped up? Was is pulled from "We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection?"
I ask because my BB reads differently. P14 suggests, "For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice......"
Also, that "we claim....." line talks not about what we strive for but what we claim - there's a difference
I don't aim for progress.....or hope for progress. I aim for perfection but am content with progress. Given it's "progress" that I actually see in my life, I can easily CLAIM progress........but I'm still striving for perfection.......still striving to grow toward a greater ideal.
Now I'm not a complete idiot and I see where the phrase has it's place - it's a good one to keep the self centered, control freak, manipulative alkie from thinking it's ok to be a perfectionist. It's also good to be reminded that while we can strive for perfection, we're likely all going to be presented with slow progress combined with occasional set-backs. That in no way means to me that I can't still strive for perfection. It does, of course, have to be a "healthy" striving - no self deprecation when I fall short of my ideal.
** I re-read my post and it seems to possibly be a tad argumentative. If I offended anyone, I apologize. In the spirit of where I was coming from when I wrote it, I'm going to leave it untouched.....but again......I didn't really mean to anger anyone.