Today's Gift 7/17/2009
 

Today's thought from Hazelden is:

Inches make champions.-- Vince Lombardi

What's the difference between success and failure? Ideal conditions? Half again as much effort? Twice the talent? Ten times "the breaks"? Or is it simply that some people have what it takes and some people don't?

Vince Lombardi, the football coach who brought the Green Bay Packers from fifteen losing seasons to successive world championships, thought success was a matter of inches. A bit more concentration, one extra push in practice, a consistent second effort for a tiny additional gain. He didn't ask his players to be something other than they were - he asked them to improve their best an inch at a time. He knew inches add up, in life as in sports.

In life as in football, it is often the little things that count: going to meetings when we feel like staying home, or speaking our minds, no matter how insignificant our opinion may seem. When we feel like simply hiding - inches make the difference.

Today, I will be aware that I am a champion in the making. I may not make a complete turnaround today, but I will make progress.

You are reading from the book:

Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty. Copyright 1987, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation.

I liked that reading, it reminded me of a quote from the Big Book that says "Half-measures availed us nothing".

Each day when I awake I have the option of going to a meeting or isolating, posting on SR and sharing with other alcoholics, or quietly wallowing in self-pity and shame.

Today I'm choosing to make a little progress, even if it's just a few inches. I hope you'll join me on a journey in recovery.

(Big Book quote from the 1st edition of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Thanks Astro, I hadn't gotten around to my email this morning so you brought my email to me :hug: I needed to be reminded that I am a work in progress, that it may be only happening an inch at a time, but it still is progress as long as I am doing the next right thing.