The Serenity Prayer – (Part 6) One Day at a Time

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Now that we are in our new season, number 4, episode 1, I will begin by continuing with the Serenity Prayer, as written by Reinhold Niebur. I’ll begin after the prayer says, (in our new version: Wisdom to know the difference) and the original, which is the one we will be using, (wisdom to distinguish one from the other).

I have included the remainder of the prayer below:

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.

One of the most familiar and important slogans in the 12-step programs is, One Day at a Time. I believe that the original serenity prayer is where this slogan originated. In this respect, 

the prayer doesn’t just talk about living one day at a time, but in the it says enjoying one moment at a time.

Personally, I believe the author wrote the words as he did, simply because words in the spiritual realm are useless and meaningless. Once I have surrendered to my Spirit, and, of course, to God, time is not a factor. There is no spiritual day or spiritual moment. There are these things, however, interwoven with our humanity. Once I have surrendered, (via the third step), I am able to accept and enjoy my world in a completely different way. I can begin to see God in everything, and my Spirit and humanity begin to act as one. As a bit of a side, when I hear the word atonement, I interpret it as, “at-one-ment”. I believe that when we reach the point of our Surrender, which, by the way is the most emptying yet fulfilling act of our human lives, we view our humanity in a completely different light. We are able to still slice time into different pieces, such as a day a year or a lifetime. These pieces, however, we begin to see as a useful tool with which to run our lives.

The spirit sees time as constant and eternal. As I surrender, I learned that I can use these segments to give my Spirit meaning in my humanity.

By saying one day at a time, or one moment at a time, I am able to manage this beautiful spiritual gift in my human environment. I do not believe I am able to see all of the ramifications of Surrender. I think I understand but a smidgen of the wonders of my Spirit, and true understanding will come when I move on to the next phase of our existence.