Wednesday, September 26, 2012 -- Serenity Prayer (3)

"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."

How do I respond when life treats me unfairly? How do I get serenity and learn to be content with the things in life which cannot be changed?.     

The apostle Paul wrote: “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13 NLT).

When Paul wrote this, he was in a Roman prison waiting to hear if he would be executed. Prison, in those days, was a dark, damp, cold, and rat infested cave.  And yet we hear no whining or complaining from Paul who was unjustly imprisoned. Instead, he learned to accept the circumstances he could not change.

The process of recovery is a time of learning to find serenity while also accepting life as it is. Life isn’t always fair. It isn’t predictable or controllable. It can be wonderfully rich in some ways and terribly difficult in others.

When we become willing to face the hurt in our life and consider how we have reacted to it, then our discomfort can lead us to break the destructive cycle. Then we can learn to be content with the things we cannot change.  We can’t change the fact that our world is imperfect and things are far from the way they should be, but we can choose our attitudes. We need serenity from God to help us change our responses to the injustices of life.

How am I handling the painful circumstances of my past? How might I better handle them?

(Adapted from:  "Serenity Prayer - Acceptance" - Life With God in Recovery) Copyright 2012 Partners In Hope Recovery Society