Although the Prayer of Serenity is often associated with 12-Step Programs for addictions, it has practical applications for everyone.  These lines are familiar to most of us.

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.

That last line is the kicker. I know that I often think that I should be able to change things that annoy me. Upon deeper reflection, I realize that I what I lack is the wisdom to know the difference. Some things are not mine to change.

Then I came across a version of the prayer that applies directly to me.

God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change,

Courage to change the one I can change,

And the wisdom to know that it’s me.

Yes. The only person I have control over is me and that means that I, alone, am responsible for my responses and reactions to others. That is all that I can change.

I’m working on it.

Tags: Acceptance, Change, Serenity

This entry was posted on Monday, January 16th, 2012 at 3:23 pm and is filed under inspiration, Phyllis Kennemer, Writer, Stating the Obvious. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.