A Prayer for the Smokers

A friend of mine on Facebook asked for prayers to help him quit smoking. Prayers, of course, are utterly useless things; they certainly won't help a person quit smoking - crede experto! Here was my comment to his status:

"Hey Bob! Congratulations on your decision to quit smoking. You will not regret it! I haven't had a cigarette since June of 2009. That was after 20 years of smoking a pack a day. It helped me to keep in mind that I don't want my behavior controlled by a chemical - I didn't want to be an addict; I wanted to be in control of myself, to be a master not a slave. I also tried to keep in mind that there are literally billions of nonsmokers in the world, and they manage to wake up, drink black coffee, drive to work, and otherwise get through their day without a cigarette. If they can do it, so could I. And if I can do it, so can you."

Quitting smoking is an assertion of control over one's life. Relying on prayer is a relinquishment of that control.