The Prayer for Serenity

BF referenced the Prayer of Serenity in a comment on a previous post and it got me thinking.  Ever since I was a little girl I have known of/heard this prayer; we had it on a little wall plaque thing in the hallway at home.  I’ve always liked the prayer, mostly because of its simplicity.

I was always of the assumption that the author of the Serenity Prayer was unknown, but a little research (Google is your friend) says that authorship of the prayer has been occassionally credited to Reinhold Niebuhr.  The prayer is also a component of 12-step programs like Alcoholics Annoymous. Different texts and writers have changed or adjusted some of the wording over the ages, but in all versions the intent remains intact.

Niebuhr’s original text, shown in Elisabeth Sifton’s book The Serenity Prayer is as follows:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

The Alcoholics Anonymous version is:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

 And a longer version (creator/origin unknown) is below:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things

which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish

the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

As we all know I am not a religious person but I definitely can’t deny the power to calm and soothe that these few lines can have. Right up there with “You doh have no power to make me vex!”

I came across this link that takes the prayer, breaks it down and examines it on a fundamental, word by word level.  There’s no need for me to copy the entire text here (read the link) but some wonderful phrases sprang out at me:

Me… the I Am, of self, the True Self, that portion of self which knows that it is, in all instances.

Serenity… Again a word that is misunderstood, that most folks take to mean a quiet, unruffled, calm, undisturbed, tranquil condition in the circumstances of life about us. In truth what it really means is Presence of Mind in the Here and Now, viewing the Reality of whatever conditions and circumstances that may be occurring … Not fighting Reality with illusions of how things should or should not be.

Courage… The ability to make the Responsible Decisions Necessary and take Action to DO the things we already know need to be done in the face of unknown outcomes and consequences..

And to end:
The wise man knows that success in life is achieved by simply putting a whole lot of mistakes together in a way that works.

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