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.
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.
I just wanted to post this. I was thinking we say the Serenity Prayer so often and some of us don't even know there is more to it! So here it is! It's kind of funny that this was written most likely in 1934. Right around the time A.A. came to fruition. Very interesting. Maybe Reinhold was one of us? lol. Seriously doubt it but who knows.
Interestingly enough the long form of the prayer wasn't written by Niebuhr. just the part we recite in meetings was and that wasn't exactly what the poet said. His version was:
"Father, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other."
almost the version we know today. I believe it was Alcoholics Anonymous who changed the wording, no doubt to illustrate that it's God as we understand Him and using the word "Father" indicates a specific religion. the year sounds right from what I've read late 30s early 40s.
The extra verses were added by a guy named William Spence in 1953.
Incidentally, we used the long version at our wedding because it encapsulates much of what we learn in AA, living one day at a time, trusting in god, praying for knowledge of His will instead of ours. All in all its a useful prayer, no question about it.
Interestingly enough the long form of the prayer wasn't written by Niebuhr. just the part we recite in meetings was and that wasn't exactly what the poet said. His version was:
"Father, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other."
almost the version we know today. I believe it was Alcoholics Anonymous who changed the wording, no doubt to illustrate that it's God as we understand Him and using the word "Father" indicates a specific religion. the year sounds right from what I've read late 30s early 40s.
The extra verses were added by a guy named William Spence in 1953.
Incidentally, we used the long version at our wedding because it encapsulates much of what we learn in AA, living one day at a time, trusting in god, praying for knowledge of His will instead of ours. All in all its a useful prayer, no question about it.
Thanks for reminding me how useful it is.
Thanks for history lesson Wolfie. I knew about half of that or could it be that I'd forgotten the other half.
Awesome that you used it in your wedding! I never even thought about having some reference to AA included in our wedding and I should've as we had a dozen or so friends in the program attend. Many more were invited but the wedding was held in my Wife's hometown 60 miles away from what I've called home for the last 17 years.
That full version has hung on my bedroom wall for many years, and it was incorporated into my wedding ceremony (It still ended n divorce) around 12 years ago, and it will also feature in my funeral service (hopefully in about 60 more years or so - in which case I may also qualify as the oldest recovering alkie on the planet)
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Serenity is Wanting what you have, not having what you want
Always remember non-alcoholic beers are for NON-ALCOHOLICS
Steve - No alcohol at my wedding, but the majority of people attending were either in recovery or non-drinkers, so it wasn't required.
St. Pete - opening our wedding with that prayer was my wife's suggestion. I think I mentioned in another post, probably on the Al-Anon Board, that our ceremony was filled with things like that. the Prayer of St. Francis, the Footprints poem, vows we wrote ourselves, and the song One day at A Time as we left the church.
We invited all of you to attend. Didn't you get the invitation? It was in the December 1999 issue of the AA Grapevine. "Invitation to a Wedding."
Neibur wrote the long version. AA shortened it to keep Jesus out of it. The guy who claims that AA wrote the long version is simply wrong. In fact, he's got it backwards. AA shortened it, not lengthened it.
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"Let me just say this about that, and that is this..." Don Cobb 1973
1. Public Discussion Boards, in some ways, are not unlike the restroom walls along our nation's highways where you will likely find Idle Babble, Hooey, Assorted Graffitti and etc.
2. GOD, Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I can not change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to hide the dead bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off.
Also help me to be careful of the toes I step on today
as they may be connected to the butt I may have to kiss tomorrow!!
3. Fine..., Don't believe in me and StayDrunk or High you StupidFuckingMoron.
Good stuff Mark. Don't worry I know what you are saying.
The serenity prayer doesn't work for guys like me. Not saying it's no good, it's great for getting thoughts centered again. But it's a very demanding prayer. My prayers are always from a place of thanks. My opinion it is very egotistic and arrogant to tell God to grant me anything lmao. Serenity in my life has to be earned with loving intentions being behind my every move.
Even in light of all that, I still use it. I guess that is the beauty of it. Merry Christmas to all 2016.
Interest'n point of view there Vision ... I like it ... although I feel the context is in the form of 'asking' rather than demanding to be granted serenity ... and that's just me ... maybe I'm wrong, but it IS a beautiful prayer, I agree ... and like you, most of my prayers are in the form of gratitude rather than requests ... and the requests that I do ask for are usually for the benefit of those who need help in some form or other ...
Pappy
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
