Tonight after our guests had gone Daughter # 4 and I sat up late talking. As we wound down she tried – rather unsuccessfully - to quote the Serenity Prayer. So after she had gone upstairs I looked it up (Wikipedia):
“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.”
But I rather liked this longer version by Reinhold Niebuhr:
- 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.
- Amen.
As my daughter reminded me, I can’t solve other people’s problems –and I mustn’t try!
“Taking… this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it… so that I may be reasonably happy in this life.”
In the meantime I need to do the things I can do… which at the moment means buying tickets for our trip!
1 comment:
I like that longer version better too.
Susan
Post a Comment