God grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship 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.
—— Reinhold Niebuhr.
The prayer became more widely known after being brought to the attention of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1941 by an early member. The co-founder of the group, William Griffith Wilson, and the staff liked the prayer and had it printed out in modified form and handed around.
It has been adopted by, and been part of, Alcoholics Anonymous ever since and also been adopted by other twelve-step programs.
The most popular and best-known form of this prayer is as presented above, however, other forms and/or renditions of it exist.
Niebuhr's versions of the prayer were always printed as a single prose sentence; printings that set out the prayer as three lines of verse modify the author's original version.
The original version of the prayer, attributed to Niebuhr, goes like this:
God, give me 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.
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
 |
| credit |
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship 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.
—— Reinhold Niebuhr.
About the Serenity Prayer
The Serenity Prayer is the common name for an originally untitled prayer by the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971).The prayer became more widely known after being brought to the attention of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1941 by an early member. The co-founder of the group, William Griffith Wilson, and the staff liked the prayer and had it printed out in modified form and handed around.
It has been adopted by, and been part of, Alcoholics Anonymous ever since and also been adopted by other twelve-step programs.
The most popular and best-known form of this prayer is as presented above, however, other forms and/or renditions of it exist.
Niebuhr's versions of the prayer were always printed as a single prose sentence; printings that set out the prayer as three lines of verse modify the author's original version.
The original version of the prayer, attributed to Niebuhr, goes like this:
God, give me 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.
Comments
Post a Comment