Tuesday, February 21, 2012

So that I may be reasonably happy…

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.”

Sarah - Emily 2

In the meantime I need to do the things I can do…   which at the moment  means buying tickets for our trip!

1 comment:

Tim and Susan said...

I like that longer version better too.
Susan