The Serenity Prayer – (Part 2) Serenity

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This is part two of my series on the serenity prayer. In the last episode I wrote about the origins of the serenity prayer. Many folks think it is part of the 12-step program, but of course, it is not, although it is interwoven quite nicely throughout the program.

In this episode we will get into the meat of the prayer. I am going to be using the original serenity prayer as written by Reinhold Niebuhr. It is not certain when he penned the full version, but it is assumed to be somewhere in the 1930s or 40s. The first part of his prayer is as follows:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity 
 the things that cannot be changed, 

The serenity prayer of today goes, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,”. So, as some of you know, I am not big on asking God (in any of His or Her forms), for anything. I have said many times in my books and in this podcast that my part in any communication with God, is as listener. For me it is so important to remember that God automatically provides for everything I might need, including any moral necessities. However, I certainly understand any need for prayer in our traditional sense. After all, in the Our Father, we ask God to “give us this day our daily bread”. Again, I have nothing against this manner of prayer. It is just not for me.

I think it is interesting that Rev. Niebuhr use the word Grace in his original prayer, and I’ll speak about this in the podcasts.

I’m sorry, but I just can’t let it go. Just the thought of asking God for Grace, (something I know was ours from the moment of our creation), seems so redundant to me. Maybe you can see which way I am leaning throughout the discussion of the serenity prayer. I am certainly not minimizing its importance, but it serves a much better purpose for me as a reminder rather than a plea. I have written about the fact of the 12-step program being a psychological help as well as its main use as a spiritual program. Perhaps the active praying to God with a request for some kind of assistance can be a way of reminding ourselves of His omnipotence. In other words, a two-way prayer connection with God or the Holy Spirit may provide some human, psychological support.

I’ll speak about this more in the next podcast.