Courage To Change (5)
Friday August 28, 2015
“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.” It’s interesting that the writer of the “Serenity Prayer” inserted the courage to change between acceptance of things that we cannot change, and wisdom to know what can be changed. Many of us tried to run away from our problems and instead added to them. We did not seek the wisdom to know the difference between what we had to accept as unchangeable and what changes we could make to better our lives. There are so many things in our past that we would like to change but we need to accept that we cannot change our past. By making good choices we can chart a better way for our future.
We’ve all spent great amounts of time and energy trying to control and change circumstances and out-of-control people and situations rather than asking God for the courage to accept them and show us how to live well in spite of them. As we learn to acknowledge things we cannot change, we will live in peace knowing that we are not responsible for others’ bad behaviour or circumstances. We can ask God for courage to change our feelings, our reactions, and our boundaries and He will gladly give us the strength we need.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. (James 1:5 NIV, Philippians 4:6-7, Proverbs 3:13 NLT))
Heavenly Father, it is such a comfort to know that you never change even though we and the world around us is ever changing. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Your power never gets weak and your truth always stands firm. Your plans are secure and your Word shows us how to live each day. In every moment, including the challenging ones, help us to turn our thoughts to You so we can stand secure, accepting what we should, changing what we can, and having wisdom to know the difference.
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