The Serenity Prayer

Tonight, I saw a television show (can't recall which) that quoted the Serenity Prayer:

“Lord 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.”

That prayer was an originally untitled prayer written by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in the 1930s or early 1940s. Found as early as 1937 in a Christian student newsletter, which claimed it had been reprinted from an earlier edition of the newsletter. That original version was:

"Father, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other."

But, as I read about it, I decided that I like the longest version the most:

"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."

Now, you don't have to be all that religious for these prayers to work for you. Take out the "fathers", the "Lords" and the "Amens" and you have quite a powerful idea at work here: Be happy. YOU can make yourself happy!

I needed to see that, to read it and study it a little. I needed to know that I can be happy, if I just let it happen.

To say that my life is at a cross-roads right now would be a true understatement. From here on, I will take control where I can then roll around in the joy it brings me until I stink of the stuff.