“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. The power to overcome sin comes from God. However, one can prepare and make decisions based on precise objective observations.Ĥ. The weather cannot be altered regardless of human attempts to control it. In Matthew 16:3, it is written, “nd in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”įrom this scripture, we are told it is easy to observe what is readily visible by the eye, but the meaning behind what’s obvious is not always understood. Debating and questioning factual matters are of no practical consequence and only result in confusion and unrest. Man cannot change his family tree, science, or factual history. Titus 3:9 teaches us to “avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law for they are unprofitable and vain.” The believer must accept His direction and influence before inner calmness and peace can be experienced.Ģ. God’s righteousness and providence control a person’s paths, steps, and directions. 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. Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, 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. The most well-known version was published in 1951 with the addition of the word “grace.” This full version reads: The Serenity to accept the things I cannot change Īnd the Wisdom to know the difference, Amen. The Serenity Prayer can be found in either the common shortened form or the more extended, full version with portions of language altered. Over the years, different versions of the prayer have been published. Wygal placed the prayer in newspaper articles as early as the 1930s and then, in an altered form, in a book of worship in 1940. Reinhold Niebuhr is universally attributed as the author of what we know as “ The Serenity Prayer.” Its promotion was likely from a diary excerpt from Niebuhr’s student and collaborator, Winnifred Crane Wygal. He was an American theologian, philosopher, and longtime dean and professor of Applied Christianity at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.Dr. So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,Īnd supremely happy with You forever in the next.Īlthough millions of people both in and out of the recovery community have been helped and strengthened by the Serenity Prayer's simple lines, few are aware the first stanza was written by Dr. Trusting that You will make all things right, God, give us grace to accept with serenityĪccepting hardship as a pathway to peace, The following is the original unabridged Serenity Prayer, written by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971):
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