The Serenity Prayer

The Serenity Prayer is one of the most widely spoken prayers in the world. People from all walks of life and spiritual leanings pray this prayer as a way to ground themselves and take heart in the reality that change happens. It helps us recognize that our response to change has the ultimate impact on our life for good or bad and that we have choices for how we will respond.

Below it the prayer in it's complete form as spoken today. The first four lines are the words that most people are familiar with.

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.

The Full Original Copy - The 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

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