The Serenity Prayer

There is a prayer that's known by most Christians around the world - at least the first sentence. It has been entitled "The Serenity Prayer" and is often repeated by people worldwide. That same sentence is used in most group addiction treatment programs. You know the one...

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Yesterday morning I was listening to our pastor talking about joy - about finding and maintaining joy in your life regardless of the other things that are going on. He referred to the apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians in which Paul talks about the joy in Christ no matter what is happening in your life. For some reason during the sermon I thought of The Serenity Prayer. A few minutes later Dr. Marr brought it up.

He read the first sentence, the one with which everyone is familiar, then asked if we knew the rest of it. I had never really paid attention to the fact that there is a "rest of it" so this was new to me.

The prayer is credited to American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, who is believed to have first penned it in the early 1930s. His final version of the prayer, which appeared in 1951, had been modified a bit and contained different phrasing, asking God for "grace to accept with serenity," which was not in the original version.


God, give me 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.

It's a simple prayer yet very profound - even in its abbreviated version.

The word serenity means a state of being calm, peaceful, or tranquil; unruffled. So in the first sentence of the pray one is asking for God to keep them calm and unruffled in the face of things that cannot be changed, no matter how difficult or frustrating it might be. That's a pretty big request.

In the second part you're asking God to give you the courage (and  I would imagine) to change the things that can and should be changed. Making changes can be a difficult thing to do - regardless of how bad the need is. Change is often uncomfortable - for others as well as the one(s) making the changes. Not everyone will agree that the changes need to be made, which can ruffle feathers and cause discomfort and even anger. It's another quite large request.

And the third request is for the wisdom to know the difference between things that cannot be changed and things that can and should be. It's tough when you want something to be changed and spend time trying only to discover it's not within your capability. You waste time and emotion. If you trust God to guide you through your life then you know that He will help you discern what you should and should not spend your time on. 

The rest of the prayer, while not often repeated, is just as poignant as the first sentence. Maybe more so.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace...

Keep in mind this is a request of God - to give us the grace and serenity to live one day at a time, enjoying the little things and understanding that all struggle leads to inner peace and happiness if we trust Him.

Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it;

Jesus lived His perfect life even in the face of sin and evil. And while none of us can live that perfect life, we can strive to be like Him and live through God's grace and love. Just as Jesus changed the things and people He could while He was here on Earth, so we can strive to do the same things. We cannot have the world as we want it - that's just not going to happen. But we can make it better through God's love and grace.

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

Talk about joy. All we have to do is trust Him and let Him guide our lives. In return He will make our lives better and lead us to happiness. He won't take away every problem but He will help us through the ones we have. As Paul said in Philippians 4:13: "In Christ all things are possible."

In John 14, Jesus told his disciples "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 

How much more happy could one be than to be in Heaven with our Savior in the next life? It is promised and the bill has already been pre-paid. One must only accept and believe. Can you say "Amen?"