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15…THE SERENITY PRAYER

Good morning! The Serenity Prayer is something that is familiar to most people. Most people know the prayer as follows: “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.” This is really the shortened version of that prayer written by Reinhold Niebuhr. Here is the original version. “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.”

There will always be things that we cannot change in life. Today would’ve been my wedding anniversary if Alan was still alive. I can’t change the fact that he’s not here so I have a choice to make. I can either accept and embrace the change or I can futilely fight it. I can live one day at a time enjoying each moment, just as Matthew 6:34 tells us to do or I can worry myself to death over things that can’t be changed. I can accept this heartache as a pathway to peace or I can let grief run my life. I can surrender to God’s perfect will, or I can let anger rule for God taking Alan so soon. I can trust God to make all things good or I can find fault in everything. I can be reasonably happy in this life and forever happy in the next or I can choose to just be miserable for the hand life has dealt me. As my pastor said on Sunday, we can be as happy as we choose to be. I choose happiness despite life’s circumstances. As today reminds me, life is too short to do anything but that.

Lord, there are many things in life that we can’t change. Even in the midst of those things, help us remain happy as our joy comes from You. Amen.