The Serenity Prayer - FULL VERSION

After I shared this in worship this past Sunday, several of you have asked me for it.  Many of us know something called the “Serenity Prayer,” attributed to the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971). 

Among other places, it’s been adopted and used extensively in “Alcoholics Anonymous” and other twelve-step programs.  However, most of us don’t realize that the original, fuller version of this prayer is even richer.  Here it is again, in case you missed it Sunday…

“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.”                     (-Reinhold Niebuhr, 1943)