The Serenity Prayer
“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.
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.
Amen.”
Perhaps there is a reason most people would not classify me as serene. And perhaps that reason is that the habits delineated in the prayer above are the very same ones that are the most elusive to me.
“Living one moment at a time.” I seem more intent on worrying ten years into the future and regretting ten years into the past.
“Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.” I tend to believe that hardships occur when the world has taken a wrong turn. I have a very hard time shaking the belief that I know what is best. Instead of acceptance, I am much more likely to rail against reality with all my might, all the while ignoring what real opportunities are right in front of me.
“That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.” Somehow I have come to the belief that true and lasting and full happiness can be found in this life and that if I just do everything right and if everyone else does everything absolutely right then everything will be perfect. When in reality, perfection isn’t intended for nor is it possible in this life.
I was thinking about this prayer recently because I struggle with acceptance. Which makes sense because up until recently I’m not sure I actually even believed in acceptance much less desired it. Acceptance sounded like failure. It sounded like a consolation prize for those who lost the battle.
But the problem is that when we lack acceptance, we become frozen.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve tried to make the world conform to my will. And when things would go contrary to my will, I would feel so out of control. I’ve always felt like I lacked freedom in a sense because I couldn’t make everything perfect and how I wanted it to be. I believed freedom was a byproduct of control. But what if true freedom comes when we start to accept what is and start working within those parameters.
I was sitting in church a couple of weeks ago. I was stewing about something or another, feeling trapped and less than free. And then I happened to look up and look at the cross. And I saw Jesus nailed to a cross. No freedom to even move. Totally out of control.
But He wasn’t out of control at all obviously. He had accepted the will of God. And it was through that, that he had his freedom.
See, it’s not until we allow ourselves to accept a certain amount of inevitability that we truly become free. Because we can’t control the world. We can’t control what happens out there or to us. We can’t control others or nature or fate.
But what we can control is all we really need to control — our minds, our hearts, and our actions.
And I really believe that when I am finally able to live out that truth, that I will finally find some more peace.
What do you think? Is there anything you are trying to control that perhaps you can’t control? What would happen if you let it go and tried to work with it instead of against it?