For over the past three years I have been part of a Christian 12-step recovery group. I have found my involvement in this group to be one of the most beneficial things in my life. One aspect of this has been my learning and adopting the "Serenity Prayer" as part of my devotional life. Most people are only familiar with the portion of the prayer that says, "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." But in actuality the prayer is longer and addresses other issues for experiencing peace and serenity in our daily lives.
Though the authorship of the prayer has been disputed, Reinhold Niebuhr is generally acknowledged as its originator. Niebuhr was one of the most significant theologians of the 20th century, and played a major role in the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The full version is as follows:
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.
Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as the pathway for 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.
I have found this prayer to be helpful for me to focus upon the present, and shed the anxiety of the "what-ifs" that can plague our mind when it dwells in the future. In the past year, through the use of this prayer, and the ministry of others, I have been less burdened with worry. When anxiety does begin to rise up, this prayer helps "center" me back on Jesus and resting in Him.
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