The Serenity Prayer

The original Serenity Prayer was penned in the early 1930s by an American theologian named Reinhold Niebuhr. Neibuhr ended up writing multiple versions throughout his life.

This is the original version and it is worth noting the ordering is different than what we commonly hear.

“Father, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other.”

The most common version is below.

“Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the strength to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Each line of this seemingly simple prayer is immense in its depth and relevance. Since most people are more familiar with the second version listed above, we will focus on that one.

The first part can be seen today as a rejection of one of modernity’s most basic premises. This idea being that you are required to care. Modernity orders you to become emotionally invested, to feel intensely for every story that is tossed in your face. And, as soon as that one is forgotten, your are required to obsess over the next one picked up by the whirlwind. The Serenity Prayer asks God not for ignorance, but for inner peace. For the ability to see the modern world and to not allow it to manipulate your emotions. To not allow it to exhaust our hearts, so that we are too worn out to feel God’s love or to give our love to our families.

That serenity, that acceptance for that which we cannot change, means limiting our emotional investment in the things we are told are SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT. Spending hours a day online, even if it is only seemingly a few minutes at a time, is not healthy. We do not utilize the serenity we have asked God for by fretting over news stories and events we have no control over. Inner peace is not achieved by interrupting a conversation with an actual person to see an alert from an app on your phone.

Most of the things these apps alert us to are things we cannot change. Riots in a major city, perfidy committed by politicians we already dislike and don’t own, these are things we have no real influence over. When we learn to accept that we cannot influence them, they become less important. When they become less important, we reject the immediacy of someone saying something we don’t like on Twitter. It is no longer an immediate concern because we know we can do nothing about it. It should be emphasized again that this does not mean we should never know about it, we do not pray to God for ignorance. We simply do not need to know about it when modernity demands we know about it, and we do not need to prioritize these “far away things” over our real life.

This leads us to that second part of the prayer. Asking God for the strength to change the things we can is a scary proposition. It is asking God for strength, but also obligates us to act. Changing the things we can means acting on the serenity God has given us. It is pruning modernity from our lives with those attention demanding, life sucking alerts and apps that don’t do anything but fuel impotent rage.

Improving oneself takes an inner strength born of humility and supported by God’s love for us. We must first have the strength to admit we are deficient in some manner, before we can improve that particular aspect of ourselves. This can be our bodies, minds, skill sets, souls or even finances. These things all take strength to put into motion and strength to maintain once started.

Improving yourself is the foundation of using the strength we asked for to change our relationships with others. We need to be people that others actually want to meet, talk to, and trust in order to form networks of people that are resilient beyond some social media exec’s latest politically correct jihad. Forming and tending to networks, even those that aren’t explicitly Southern Identity, takes strength and is extremely important.

The third part of the prayer, asking for the wisdom to know the difference, is linked inextricably to the first two. When we ask God for guidance, recognizing that guidance and following it, is wisdom. Recognizing our own limitations is a key component of this. When we recognize and admit the limits of our own power and influence, we can discern what we cannot change and what we can. With the strength of humility, we can control pride and utilize the wisdom we have asked for in order to make those distinctions.

Part of the wisdom to know the difference between what we can change and cannot change is being able to recognize how we can change things. How we can change things is not always readily apparent and may require research and patience. This research and patience will eventually come back to a point where we must either accept that the thing we wish to change is beyond our control, or use the courage and strength God has granted us to begin enacting that change.

The Serenity Prayer can be a simple prayer to help us through difficult moments in the day or a deep, meditative prayer to help us discern God’s will with big decision points. Pray with an open heart and when God grants you the serenity to accept what you cannot change, be thankful and let the impotent anger go. When He gives you the strength to change the things you can, have the courage to make the most of it. When He opens your eyes to see what is and is not beyond your control, be honest with yourself about it and accept the truth.