27 Words
Written by Suet: Hopeful, make a difference, quote, sue 3 Comments
We’ve all seen it so many times that it seems trite, a cliché. It is a mantra in recovery groups.
But it is bigger than that. Stop, look, listen:
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 one little prayer fully answers the question “How do I get through this crazy life?”
I mean, what percentage of my life is spent resenting what is?
“Why are people so mean?”
“Why did my neighbor paint their house such an ugly color?”
“Why does Microsoft Word suck so badly?”
The prayer offers me two choices – accept it or do something about it.
And accept that I can’t always do something about it.
When my sister was dying, I was driving home from the hospital and saw a billboard for the state lottery. “Jackpot: $68 million!” it said in rainbow colors.
“Huh,” I thought. “Even if I won all that money, I still couldn’t help my sister. There’s nothing I could do.”
It was a shock to my system. There was NOTHING I could do.
Then there are those other times when I have known what needs to be done – I could feel it with every nerve, it kept me up at night – but lacked the courage to do it. So I used “coping skills” – got depressed, blamed others, fed my addictions to try and keep the pain of failure away.
I know it is easy to spend years dangling between the two poles of resentment and fear.
Eventually, though, if one wants to grow, one has to step out and sort out what can be changed and what can’t.
The Serenity Prayer. 27 words little words that offer a path to sanity and peace. It’s not just for recovery groups anymore.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:36 am
“I know it is easy to spend years dangling between resentment and fear, but more is required from us…It is only when we begin to calmly sit and look at our choices and to act wisely, that we can heal and become whole people.” This has been my study for years, but I’m a slow study. It’s like being born, every time I get stuck.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I have this prayer on my desk and often look at those 27 words, especially when I get in a tangle of the resentment and fear as you describe.
Along the same line is a Brennan Manning quote – the entire quote is on this post on my blog: http://fromthefrontporch.com/WPBlog/?cat=16
However, the words that are my mantra lately are at the end:
“Let go in reckless confidence all that shackles you to yesterday, imprisons you in your own small self today and frightens you with the uncertainty of tomorrow.”
When I find myself strangled from acting or going forward by fear, I recite “Let go in reckless confidence” and I look at those “27 words”. As you said – wise words.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:48 pm
So true. Acceptance is the one thing I get stuck on. So I bought myself a necklace, three silver rings on a silver chain, each ring etched with a reminder. Serenity. Wisdom. Courage. Every time I fiddle with it, I am reminded.