The Serenity Prayer

[justanobserver]

Was going thru a folder in my comouter and came across the Serenity Prayer - the full prayer.

Am posting here as it is for everyone one in recovery.

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.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship 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.

 

[Dralan]

Thanks for posting that. I use the serenity prayer lately on a daily basis throughout the day. I have found my attitude is better when I dont try to control everything around me and just put it in Gods hands. Right now I am working on putting my life back together and clearing up the wreckage of my past and try and not be too overwhelmed by all lifes ups and downs. I find the basic message of the serenity prayer is the key.

 

[Solidlyhere]

Actually, that is not the Serenity Prayer.

The original version is:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can, that need changing; and
the wisdom to know the difference.

Since then, it has been tweaked.

 

[justanobserver]

from what I find, it is:

Original version by Reinhold Niebuhr
Niebuhr seems to have written the prayer for use in a sermon, perhaps as early as 1934 (the date given in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 16th edn., ed. Justin Kaplan, 1992, p. 684), perhaps in the early 1940s.
Elisabeth Sifton's book The Serenity Prayer (2003) quotes this version as the authentic original:
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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer

another link about it:

http://www.aahistory.com/prayer.html

and another:

http://www.bartleby.com/73/1472.html


the bottom line is this: It is the Serenity Payer - what is known and accepted at every place I go.

Whether its not the original historical version that only some know but a copy thats been "tweaked", its still a beautiful mesage.

That is the important thing why Its posted here. The origins of it is not the topic here.

'nuff said.

 

[UberLutheran]

I remember doing my First Step in Al-Anon: my sponsor had me take the Serenity Prayer and itemize everything going on in my life:

• over which I had no control and could not change;
• over which I had control and could change;
• and all the stuff which was to be given to God.

When I produced my list and summarized it, I learned:

• I had no control over people, places and things;
• I did have control over my responses;
• and everything could be given to God.

That was 22 years ago, and I still vividly remember that exercise -- and how enlightening it was!

 

[DRL]

The Serenity Prayer was written by a Reinhold Niebuhr. The person who started this thread wrote it correctly. In the 12 step programs only the first part is used. All of it is used in the Celebrate Recovery programs.
DRL

 

[ww2pigeon]

It still stirs my heart when I say it. No matter what, it does what it is suppost to. Thank for the share.