The Serenity Prayer

[sugErspun]

Does anyone know the history of this prayer (i.e. Where it originated. When did it become common in AA. etc etc)???

The reason I ask is this - I was at a meeting outside of my normal meetings last night (to hear my grand-sponsor speak), and they opened the meeting with the Serenity Prayer. After I had said it, the guy next to me, who I know well and very much respect - leaned over and said "You know, that prayer is nowhere in our literature." I then realized he did not say the prayer along with this group. I know why HE didn't say it - but that is outside the topic of this thread.

It got me thinking - the prayer doesn't ask God to lead and that I have given my life over to him, it's more along the lines of "Let me continue to be me, and be OK with God's world.." Like, if I have turned my will and my life over to the care of God as I understand Him - why do I need to ask for the serenity to accept that choice? (btw - acceptance has rarely been the result of feeling 'serene' - it has always been uncomfortable to accept something new.)


Thoughts?

(for the record - I am not trying to take issue with the prayer- it has been on my mind since last night though and I realized the groups I go to on a regular basis never use the prayer, I just never noticed that it wasn't part of those meetings).

~Adam

[bugsworth]

The Serenity Prayer
by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

Complete, Unabridged, Original Version.

God, give us 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.

[bballdad]

thanks Adam-good post.
The way I see it,the Prayer describes my life in some ways.
I always wanted to run the show,to change everything but myself and my attitudes.I thought I knew best.I would spend many hours of my life fretting over such things too,and I did not have any peace of mind.
Now I see there are somethings I really cannot change,and some things I can and should change.I need wisdom to seperate the two sometimes,and courage to do it.Fear held me back many times.Many times I would not make a descision because I was scared of the "what if`s"..3 things -serenity-courage-and wisdom was lacking in my life.3 things I needed to live soberly and peacefully with my fellowman.I have found the Serenity Prayer a very effective tool to use daily when I was new,and to use today sometimes.
Thats just my view on it.We open all our meetings with it around here.

[jimhere]

To expand on Bugs' post, which by the way is great-I like the whole version of the prayer, I forget the exact year, but Ruth Hock , the non-alcoholic secretary in what is now called GSO, saw the prayer in an obituary. She cut it out and saved it and started sending out the version we use along with correspondences to people writing GSO. It spread from there.
Jim

[sugErspun]

I must say, I do prefer the long version a lot more than the shorter version (for me at least it makes more sense to pray for 'grace to accept with serenity' as opposed to 'grant me the serenity to accept'.)

Semantics can get to me now and again.

[Rob B]

For Folks who love history, please check out Serenity Prayer at AA History & Trivia

The Serenity Prayer's author and origins are not clear cut and precise.

[jimhere]

I stand corrected. I was a bit off on a few details.

[gravity]

The Serenity Prayer has been critical to my early recovery. Every morning, I pray to my Creator for the composure even under stressful situations to accept that I am an alcoholic and for me to make the right decisions & take the right actions to keep me from drinking. I ask the Creator to carry me when I can't take care of myself. I also ask to Creator to keep me focused & strong, to keep me from straying from the path He has chosen for me. I know that this is a more specific application of the Serenity Prayer (applied to my alcoholism) but it protects me.

I guess for me, turning my will & life over to the care of my Creator is about accepting that I am not in control, that there is a path I am meant to follow. The Serenity Prayer is about having the calmness of mind, the wisdom, the strength, the courage to follow this path through any decisions & actions I take.

Just the way I see it!

[Signal30]

You know, a habit that I personally do when I say a prayer is I insert "Please".

"God, please grant me the serenity"....

"Please give us this day, our daily bread"...

"Please relieve me of the bondage of self"...

I'm sure God doesent mind if I say please or not, I guess I'm just trying to be courteous..lol.

It's not what prayers you say, as much as the meaning it has to you. I say prayers to help get me in the right state of mind, so when I talk to God my mind is in the right place.


Tom

[BP44]

I like the serenity prayer as a means of opening the meeting, but in practice I use a line from the 3rd step prayer more often on a daily basis, " Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Love, Thy power, and Thy way of life." It directs me to serve and to seek a way of life other than my own. If you are finding something difficult to accept, or unacceptable, try it. I find it helps give me a different perspective of why I am here and what my purpose is everytime. Of myself I am nothing, The Father doeth the works.

[1cor13]

Last night I had to run out of the house for what I thought would just be a minute. I was right in the middle of a good movie but had to go out and hit a few stores. Because of the prices I don’t normally go to convenient stores but I wanted to get back to that movie.

I waited in line for 25 minutes. Having checked this forum earlier in the day and having read this post I paused took a deep breath and said the serenity prayer. It didn’t make the line go any quicker but it helped me realize that I needed to accept what I couldn’t change.

I also took a brief inventory and realized I perhaps should have stopped at the grocery store earlier in the day. After all my problems are of my own making. Thank you for the post I was happy to use the prayer to get me through those grueling 25 minutes….

[CarolD]

I too find the Serenity Prayer gives
me a chance to calm myself.

My Great Grandmother had it framed
hung it next to her bed in the '40's.
It was part of her nightly prayers
I doubt she ever heard of AA.

40 years later when I began AA
I was tickled to see it part of program.

[SF69]

I too thought it was a strictly AA thing. But the one therapist I've been seeing through work has it posted on her office wall.

[nolonger]

That's funny Carol - my grandmother had it too, an embroidered version framed beside the seat she always sat in when she got too old to move around much. I don't think she would have known anything about AA either. She lived to be 98, so whatever serenity it gave must have done her some good...

[miss communicat]

I sometimes wonder this in meetings:

If half measures avail us nothing, then why do we only recite half of the Serenity Prayer and not the entire prayer?

[NoelleR]

"If half measures avail us nothing, then why do we only recite half of the Serenity Prayer and not the entire prayer?"

LOL & miss communicat.....

Funny story about 'half measures' --- there was a bunch of us at our AA meetings who used to sit out in the entryway, sitting on chairs and windowseats, and chit-chat through the meeting times.....we called us the 'half measures' group (but, except for these meeting times, we never half-measured the Program...lol), and as far as I know we are all still sober some 20+ years later............lol


NoelleR

[1cor13]

Originally Posted by miss communicat

I sometimes wonder this in meetings:

If half measures avail us nothing, then why do we only recite half of the Serenity Prayer and not the entire prayer?

I would imagine that I could ask my home group to do the long version and we could take a vote on it and change the format if we so choose.

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.

[CarolD]

Nolonger....
My Granny Caroline died at 98
hmm..longivity key???

[CarolD]

Miss C.....
we alkies often have short attention spans

[bugsworth]

I have to say that I like the original version...

"Courage to change the things which should be changed"

Not everything that can be changed should be changed...kwim?

I also think that if the whole prayer was used too many people would view the prayer as religious.

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.

[jimhere]

I agree on both points bugs.

I especially like the line about being reasonably happy. My whole problem since as far back as I can remember is that I could never be content with what I had right here right now. I always wanted to be unreasonably happy. And that was always based on being somewhere else and some point in time down the road in the future like ...when I get this job, or this girlfiend, or this whatever.

Until I found peace within, a reasonable peace I might add, there was never enough of anything anytime.
Jim

[bugsworth]

I hear you Jim...lol...when I lose 10 lbs...(a woman thing I suppose)

Funny how life changes when you live in the day.

Life is good, calm, without inner turmoil and peaceful...sounds like serenity to me.

[xOVERMANx]

From My Understanding The Serenity Prayer Is Found In Most Churches, And Originated Out Of The Christian Faith. Thanks For The Link Rob I Will Check It Out.

[mike_mass]

I remember when getting sober in RI that a lot of meetings substituted the Lord's Prayer at the end with the serenity prayer. It seems to be a little less religiously oriented (at least in the first stanza which is commonly recited).

[miss communicat]

Originally Posted by mike_mass

I remember when getting sober in RI that a lot of meetings substituted the Lord's Prayer at the end with the serenity prayer. It seems to be a little less religiously oriented (at least in the first stanza which is commonly recited).

Yes, it does seem that way. But, its a very deeply spiritual invocation, as much so as the lords prayer.