A minor

Following is a prayer I read this morning in Grace's newsletter (PDF, page 9), with an introduction by editor Robin Logan: "I wish that I had an exact copy of an eloquent prayer written by Father Leo Crawford when he was at Christ Church in Bastrop, but I will do my best to recreate the spirit of his offering. Please forgive me for not getting it exactly right."

Dear Lord, our God,
Though we may not always understand your ways, we take this time to thank you for the many blessings in our lives.

Thank you for our disappointments,
For through them we can recognize our happiness;

Thank you for our failures,
For they give us the strength and determination to succeed;

Thank you for our broken hearts,
For that teaches us how to love;

Thank you for your grace,
For that gives us peace and compassion;

Thank you for the promise of eternal life,
For that gives us hope for the future. Amen.

It's been almost a month, and I still don't have much to say. I've been busy with work, travelling a lot more than usual: two nonconsecutive weeks in Dallas for the company's leadership development program and a quick trip to New Orleans for a day-long meeting. I've enjoyed it all, though - learned a lot, gotten a better feel for various advancement opportunities (including, but not limited to, my current "carreer path" in retail operations management), and made some great connections (including at least one real friendship). I've applied for two positions and have a third area to pursue as well, so hopefully I'll be offered a promotion of some sort in the not-too-distant future.

In other news, I bought a pack of Eclipse cigarettes for my once or twice a day bad habit. The silver strip on the cellophane says it all: "THE FUTURE OF SMOKING IS HERE" - I kid you not. But they are different, primarily heating the tobacco instead of burning it (kind of like a hookah with its coal, etc, but without water) and thus drastically reducing secondhand smoke, lingering odor, ashes, etc. However, in 2000, the American Cancer Society cited the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's independent study of Eclipse cigarettes, confirming that, "um, smokin's bad. You shouldn't smoke, mkay?" You can read more on Wikipedia.