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;
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;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with you forever in the next.

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A Brief History of the Serenity Prayer

There is no shortage of theories as to who wrote the Serenity Prayer, but no one really knows who wrote it or when it was written. One theory suggests that it was written in 500 A.D. by a philosopher named Boethius who became a martyr for the Christians of his time.

A theologian in the 1930's and 1940's named Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr is often cited as the author, but he read it in an obituary notice and gave credit to an earlier 18th century theologian.

It is claimed that Dr. Niebuhr was so impressed by the prayer that he brought it to the attention of (Bill) William Griffith Wilson (1896-1971), one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. It was so suited for the needs of AA it became a key part of the AA movement and their 12 step program. Alcoholics Anonymous and the other 12 step programs deserve the credit for making the Serenity Prayer so popular in the 20th Century.

If you would like to read more about the history of the Serenity Prayer, click here. For a musical version of the Serenity Prayer, click here.

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