“Reminder from the Miracle”

It’s one of the most heartwarming stories of recent memory. A disabled airliner successfully crash lands in the chilly waters of New York’s Hudson River and all aboard are rescued, none with serious or life-threatening injuries. The headlines shout, “Miracle on the Hudson” and proclaim the plane’s pilot Chesley Sullenberger a national hero.

Meanwhile the former Air Force Academy graduate, a fighter pilot in Vietnam, shrugs off the praise with a simple, “Hey, everybody on board that aircraft from the pilots to the flight attendants, we were just doing our job.”

The 58-year-old veteran pilot, during his time at the academy, happened to be an excellent glider pilot. Years later, at a critical moment, that talent came in handy when it was time to miraculously maneuver a doomed airliner, with no engine power, onto the river’s choppy waters without the plane cracking into many pieces.

He was “just doing his job.” Well, not many people could have done the job the US Airways’ pilot and crew pulled off that day. They are experts in their field for sure, but there’s a lesson in this miracle for each of us concerning the responsibility to “just do our job.”

In each and every Run to Daylight presentation the Comeback Coach encourages others, despite the unexpected challenges life throws our way, to keep mustering the courage to pursue their dreams and goals, with one caveat: whatever we are pursuing must pass a critical three-way test. Does what we are focusing our time and talents on, honor us, nurture those dependent upon us and add value to the communities we serve?

Does what you’re focused on today, tomorrow, this week say “yes” to those three questions, or does it say “no”? This simple but challenging test to “just doing our jobs” involves our roles as parents, spouses, siblings, co-workers, neighbors, friends and citizens of our community.

Sullenberger and others employed to be aboard that plane had the training, courage and creativity to avoid a tragic accident. Guess what? We have the same traits within us to avoid crash-landing our lives due to unproductive and inappropriate thoughts, words and actions that endanger our selves and others, right?

Take a reminder from the miracle. Let’s fly into this new week determined to “just do our job” in ways that, while perhaps not working miracles, keep us airborne, with full power and landing safely at home, work and within our communities.