The Lewis County Herald 11/1/22
Many years ago I learned to recite a prayer which I knew simply as the Serenity Prayer. For a long time I didn’t know the few lines I had memorized were only a portion of a longer version, and I didn’t know who had initially composed it.
I later learned there are many versions, and that it has been attributed to many authors over the years.
The version I continue to recite on a daily basis goes like this:
“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.”
According to my research, Reinhold Niebuhr, a theologian and ethicist, composed the prayer in about 1932.
His original version went something like this:
“O God and Heavenly Father, Grant to us the serenity of mind to accept that which cannot be changed; courage to change that which can be changed, and wisdom to know the one from the other, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”
The Serenity Prayer on an Alcoholics Anonymous token.
There are other versions, and a longer one that I’ve included at the end of this writing. It has been adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs. It has been modified by others and adapted countless times. The origins, of course, are in the Bible and Niebuhr’s composition melds some of those scriptures together in a concise package to which we can easily relate.
Matthew 19:26 comes to mind. “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
The three basic components of the Serenity Prayer are serenity (duh), courage, and wisdom.
Every day I encounter situations where the determination is quickly made as to whether or not I might have any influence over those situations and then how to proceed (should I want to).
I trust that the wisdom I have been granted has allowed me to make the proper determinations.
I have turned many things over to God. With Him, as Matthew wrote, all things are possible.
On my 60th birthday, Tammy and I sat in a doctor’s exam room and were told that a mass which had been encountered during a routine colonoscopy a week or so earlier was cancerous and that we were being referred to a surgeon.
As he continued talking I was turning the matter over to God.
Having cancer was something I had no control over, at that point.
There were, however, aspects over which we did have control and did our best to make the right decisions, asking God for continued guidance in making them.
We asked for prayers. We received them. They were answered.
Our church family held a special prayer service two days prior to the surgery in which my entire colon was removed.
Cayley and Wennie came to the hospital early and stayed late with Tammy on the day of my procedure. I appreciate the endless support they have provided.
In the few weeks between my birthday (diagnosis day) and that day at Vanceburg Christian Church, I hadn’t laid awake at night and worried about the cancer and what might happen concerning it. My mind didn’t work overtime playing out worst case scenarios. I had turned the matter over to God and knew he was handling it.
As prayers were being said by those attending that special service, an additional sense of peace came over me and remains. It was at that point I truly felt things would take their intended paths and my trust in Him was reaffirmed.
The prognosis is better than we had hoped and I still recite the Serenity Prayer every day. Multiple times every day. And I toss a few other prayers in for good measure.
This journey is far from over and I continue to ask for prayers.
“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; taking this world as it is and 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.”
− Reinhold Niebuhr
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