Serenity Prayer

The Serenity Prayer is most famously known for its use in 12-Step programs, but the original version can be attributed to Christian theologian and ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr. Use this prayer whenever you are having difficulty letting go of a situation, person, or feeling; when you want to control, fix, or meddle; you are afraid, anxious, or stressed; or your mind is caught in a loop or obsessive thinking. You may want to print out the prayer so you can reference it often or commit a phrase, line, stanza, or the entire prayer to memory and recite it like a meditation, slowly in repetition. Begin your prayer knowing that you are speaking in union with God’s Spirit, drawing on a source of strength that is already and always within you.

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.