“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”
I was surprised a while back to learn the Serenity Prayer continues from there, and I was moved by what follows, but I’ll look that up after I finish writing here. Maybe I’ll copy and paste it at the end of this reflection.
I don’t watch the morning news because it is a litany of things I cannot change. In fact, almost everything is stuff that is out of my control. I can control the actions of this earthly vessel and how it is maintained. I can control the thoughts that emerge from my pen and my mouth, most of the time.
And that is pretty much the whole list. I can muster the courage to try to effect change, but I must also muster the acceptance that any change is going to take more than just my efforts. Still, I have to try.
I know, or at least I’m fairly sure, that I will never live in a world where “Love God and love your neighbor” is not just the greatest law but common practice, and I accept that. I do have the power to change myself so that I may live my own life by that law, and I plan to spend the rest of my life working on myself.
Maybe the wisdom in the prayer is understanding that all I have the ability to change is within myself, and the serenity comes from accepting that I cannot change other minds, I can only speak my own mind, in love, and accept the results/consequences.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
