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Serenity
Posted on May 29th, 2012 No commentsFor you created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb. . . .
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Psalms 139:13 & 16
The serenity prayer has become so much a part of American culture that people don’t really pay attention to it anymore. I’ve been aware of the prayer for years; but it’s only now that I’m getting how profound it is.
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.
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to change things that couldn’t be changed, because I was afraid to change the things I could, foolishly thinking that the immutable was easier to change than the mutable.
I tried to change me. I very much believe that people can change, grow and evolve. God sanctifies us. I also believe that, like gender & skin color, there are some personality traits that do not change. He created our inmost being for a purpose. There are some basics about me that even I cannot change.
I figured that if I changed myself, I would get a different response from other people; that was my subtle way of changing them. It didn’t work. I just stayed in miserable situations longer than I should have. I was too scared to leave. It would have been easier for me to leave, but I didn’t realize that. I was not wise.
The serenity prayer is not in the Bible; but I think it’s consistent with Christian beliefs. Serenity is my word of wisdom for today. Being wise enough to know what you can and cannot do; and having the courage to change the things that you can, will bring you a greater measure of serenity.
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pelicanflies June 14th, 2012 at 08:46