“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
This prayer builds me up in my weakest moments, guides me through tough decisions, helps me see potential solutions clearly, and keeps me calm when I become filled with anxiety. I would not be where I am today without these words that I pray every day without fail.
The serenity prayer is packed with an incredibly important concept: recognizing when you have the power to change something and recognizing when there is nothing you can do about it. Using this prayer is the most effective when you truly mean it, when you truly ask your God for serenity, courage and wisdom. The moment you realize you are lacking one of those qualities or failing to recognize what is within your control and what is beyond it, use this prayer. I promise you, it will not fail you.
I pray this prayer in significant moments and sometimes even in insignificant moments. It is my go to prayer because it addresses exactly what I struggle with sometimes.
I use this prayer when:
- I think too much about my past and become fixated on it
- I’m stressed about a project at work
- I’m stuck in snow while driving
- I am struggling with my body
- I am hurt by somebody else
- I wakeup
- I go to sleep
- I can’t fall back asleep
- I am bothered by a habit someone else has
- I don’t like a result
- I need to let go
- I need more faith in an outcome
- I want to keep up a habit or even change one
- I am experiencing hardships
- I feel out of control or powerless over my life
- I need to accept something I don’t necessarily want to
- I need to think positively
The longer version of the prayer is also beautiful:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the 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 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.
M.R.S. 