In Others’ Words: The “More” of the Serenity Prayer
You have Facebook to thank for today’s blog post.
Specifically, you have my friend Kim Henson to thank. She posted the complete version of the Serenity Prayer on her Facebook page last week, saying she hadn’t known there was more to the prayer except what we so often hear — or say to ourselves. Like Kim, I’d never heard the second segment of the well-known prayer. But once I read it, I wanted to share it with you:
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;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.
Amen.
Most of the prayer reads like much-needed reminders — to not rush through life, to not demand that life conform to my expectations, to not set my hopes and happiness on here and now but rather on eternity.
But there was one phrase that gave me pause: Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace …
I’m mulling over those seven words even as I write this post. Hardships? The pathway to peace? The pathway to frustration, more likely.The pathway to disappointment. How can the hardships I face ever develop peace within me? They can’t … they never will … unless I allow hardships to change me.
Unless I stop putting me in the middle of the hardship and start looking for God in the midst of the trial.
Unless I stop insisting on what I want to happen and start looking for what God is doing.
Unless I realize that the struggle is the process God is using to change me … because maybe something I am doing is making the whole situation all the harder.
And yes, everything I just wrote is applicable to a specific hardship in my life right now.
In Your Words: What part of the second half of the Serenity Prayer spoke to you today? How have you experienced hardships as the pathway to peace?
In Others’ Words: The “More” of the Serenity Prayer #InOthersWords #lifequotes #theserenityprayer
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