Control Number

Good morning all,

I was standing in line at my neighborhood supermarket’s 10-items or less check out line hoping to be in and out in the flutter of a humming bird’s wing.  The clerk, Gertrude, was greeting everyone with a smile, and engaged each customer in instant perception conversation as she waived each item over the barcode scanner in a rhythm that would make a Olympic gymnast envious.  I was next in line and the smell of the spicy chicken wings that I had picked up, on a whim, were permeating my nostrils to the point to where my mouth was watering like the fountain outside of Caesars Palace.  Then suddenly, I heard Trudy, that’s what she told the previous customer to call her, ask the young man for his control number.  This peaked my interest, so I inched forward to hear more like an uninvited listener into a private conversation at a dinner party.  I was quickly educated and so was the young man.  Trudy skillfully explained to him that  after you send money via a wire transfer there is a unique ten-digit number assigned that is identified as your tracking number.  He needed that number to collect what was owed to him.  Too many times in life, we want what is owed to us, but we don’t have a control number; we want something for nothing.  In our careers we sometimes want the promotion without putting in the effort, in our relationships we want to be loved unconditionally without showing unconditional love, and too often we want respect in our community without totally respecting others.  In recovery, my specialty, we too many times want the breakthrough of living a drug and alcohol free life, without attending meetings, helping others, giving back, or sharing testimonies which we know are paramount in our quest for serenity.  What is your control number and could you cash it in today for what’s owed to you?