Praying To Live One Day At A Time

The Serenity Prayer is famous not just in 12-step circles but with many other folks as well.  Most people know the short version:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Now that is a great prayer for any of us to pray at any time on any day.  But, when we pray the full version of the Serenity Prayer we are introduced to some rich thoughts that help us make practical application of these broad principles.  After the short version section we quickly come to a line that says, "living one day at time, enjoying one moment at a time." 

We want to do that but as one day drags into the next with all its unknowns and stresses, the load feels a bit heavy.  For some of us it feels like one mundane day seems to slide into another. 

So today, we want to refocus on what’s necessary for today to be a day we can not just get through and but get through well.  We pray to ask God to heal and restore us so we can experience joy and enter into the life of security and peace God has planned for us one day at a time.  Today we pray for faith to trust God's ability to help us handle any situation we face now and will face going forward.  We pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to grow perseverance and patience in us as this journey moves along slowly from one day to the next. 

Let’s begin today’s prayers with the Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. 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.

Heavenly Father,  we thank you for the gift of this day and your loving presence with us in it.  We are so grateful that we don’t have to go through seasons like this on our own.  Your ways are higher than ours and your thoughts are wiser than ours so we surrender all our unknowing and all of our impatience and insecure feelings to you today.  We don’t know tomorrow or even what things will be like later today but in this moment we ask for the serenity, courage, and wisdom to make the next right choice and to live one day at a time, one moment at a time.  We can trust You with what is too big for us.  We can be confident that You will guide us and empower us to get through each situation that presents itself.

Help us to keep it simple – dealing with the things we can and leaving the rest.  Help us to seek Your heart and Your peace and Your strength trusting that You will bless us as we open our heart and lift them up to you.  Amen