Full Original Serenity Prayer
by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
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.
It’s been one of those weeks. I am middle age now, which for me, doesn’t seem to be so much about age, as much as it means being in the middle. In the middle of aging parents and young adult children launching into the turbulant seas of adulthood. Being in the middle of seeing those I love have hardship and trials, and not being able to help or fix it for them. Being in the middle is not always an easy place to be. This prayer never fails to bring me comfort, acceptance, and a reminder to live one day at a time, one moment at a time. To accept what I can’t change, to change what I can. To accept what is happening now, bless it and surrender it to God. Sometimes a simple prayer in a turbulent week is enough.
Oh I just love that prayer. It is a comforting thing to remember whenever you get one of those “why me?” moments. I also love Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem about a nun taking the veil:
I have desired to go where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail,
And a few lilies blow.
And I have asked to be where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
And out of the swing of the sea.
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Thanks so much for your kind comment on my new blog! Wishing you peace…
xoxo,
mary
Oh that is beautiful Mary, I am going to have to commit that to memory. Sometimes just saying the words, the prayer, the meditation is enough to center you in a storm.