Full Original Serenity Prayer
by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

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.

You may like to know that the part of this prayer hanging in many people’s houses today, are the same re-written first lines that Alcoholics Anonymous started to use in the early days It’s one of the first things you hear when attending an AA meeting. And I dare say this little prayer must have saved many alcoholics from going back to drinking when the temptation was there!

@fruityoaty- sometimes we find God at the lowest point in our life. then we realize that God never left us

@tina- you said it so well. You made so much sense . Yes Peace. That’s what I pray so much for my daughters.

@lemon- the serenity prayer makes absolute sense. It’s simple and easy to remember. I pray this all the time

Every political science class which one prof. of ours taught, began with this prayer. My classmates used to gripe about the prof.’s lackluster performance, but I remember thinking then that if I have to thank her for one thing, this is it-a prayer that made absolute sense, esp. this-

“the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Like Riz, I keep on worrying too. In fact, yesterday, I heard something that got me worried. And I told my best friend some of my fears, and she said, “I know you know you have to trust God in this, right?” And she’s right. I think, most of the times, God sends storms in our way for us to remember that we don’t have any control over our circumstances, only Him. Sometimes he has to break little parts of our heart for us to grow, and for us to surrender it all up to Him. I admit that a lot of times, I have a hard time doing just that. But in the end, I think it’s the only way to go. Surrendering to God doesn’t mean being imprisoned or allowing yourself to be a captive, but freedom. Freedom from all the stresses in this life, knowing that Someone bigger is taking care of all your concerns, and will not let you down. And that leads to peace.

I hope I made sense with all those ramblings. One thing I learned from the past 21 years of my life is that God is always in control, and His control is waaay better than mine.

God bless Noemi. =)

My friend had purchased a calendar with that prayer months before the operation… and at one point, I remember looking at that calendar and breaking down and crying.

The only thing that really got me through that ordeal (thinking that I was going to lose my father)… was my belief in God, as shaky as it was last year. I have since, renewed my faith.