NUMBER TEN ON THE LIST

for cornbread hell

Sponsorship.
The way NA works is by working the Steps.
The way we start working the steps is by finding a Sponsor. A sponsor is a mentor, someone with experience in working The Steps.
I found a good sponsor for myself last week. He is a bit of a Ballcap Cowboy, a Welder/Roughneck/Heavy Machine Operator that don’t put up with any bullshit.
He is as serious as an electric barbed-wire fence, and sharp as an Acetylene torch.

My first assignment was to list 10 things I am Powerless over. It is hard to make this list, especially for a guy like me that considers himself fairly capable of doing most anything.
Try it yourself!
But powerless I am as evidenced by the fact that…well…that’s not what this post is about…this post is about my list.

The first Five Items on my list were fairly easy.

I am Powerless over:
1) The effects of Drugs and Alcohol on my mind and body
2)Life and Death
3) The consequences of my actions, or lack of
4) The Laws of Physics and Thermodynamics
5) The actions and reactions of other people

The next four were a bit of a stretch, but I did OK:
6) War and Peace; Love and Hate
7) Past and Future
8) Thinking and Feeling
9)Basic Human Needs

Number 10 did not come easy. And when I showed my list to my Sponsor, he nodded as he read them aloud, commenting on each one:
“Oh, this is good”;
“Don’t take that first Drug”;
“We could all die tonight”
“Can’t change the Weather”
“I like that”
“Great list”
"Good stuff here, Bulletholes"

Then he got to Number 10 and he read :
“I am Powerless over the Sisters of Mercy”
He looked at me, quite puzzled and asked
“Who are the 'Sisters of Mercy'?”
I grinned and said
“They are my girlfriends and they don’t do ANYTHING I tell ‘em to!”

And he just busted out laughin’!