GOD GRANT ME THE SERENITY....I have known peace. The peace that comes in front of a fireplace on a cozy winter's night; the peace of the mountains. But when I would leave the mountains, the peace would leave me. When the fire went out or the phone rang, the peace would be gone. Peace came rarely and went quickly-a mood conjured by myself for myself. Serenity is different. It is all that peace is, but it stays. It carries over. It is with me and in me. Nothing disturbs it. It is given, therefore, it cannot be taken away.
TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE....One accepts when one receives. To understand, to take into the mind without debate as one receives a gift-this is acceptance. Serenity precedes acceptance. It must. There is order to this. My mind must be calm in order to understand what you are saying. To listen to you without debate, I must not be afraid of you. With the gift of serenity, I am able to accept people and circumstances as they are, not as I want them to be or as I think they should be. I am willing to accept the bad as well as the good, because it is all part of the plan. When I accept a situation as it is, when I accept you just as you are, I have stopped playing God.
COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN,,,,When my ego is involved and there's a calculated risk, I'm going to be gutsy, not courageous. It takes guts to ski a steep trail; I alone will be rewarded. Courage is different. There is always a parenthesis of fear in courage; the risk becomes minor. This parenthesis remains a void of fear until it is filled by God. There is no ego in a courageous act. Courage can ask for help. It is often something done for someone else, or it may be something I am not attracted to doing at all. I may lose by doing it. The courageous act is often the unpopular choice, to do or not to do. The results are seldom only mine. It requires more of me than I want to think I can do, alone. After it is finished, gratitude to someone or something is usually in order. Courage requires a moral strength not of myself. This strength is given by faith.
AND WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE...Wisdom in God's own conversation with me. Often He speaks though books or other people. Wisdom can be found merely by listening to others after I hear it in their words. To recognize wisdom, I must have compassion for others which gives me insight rather than knowledge of myself. Facing reality encourages recognition of wisdom, because wisdom is always truth.
