August 1, 1995

Dear Friends

I came across a prayer the other day which may well be the best-known prayer in the world.  It begins:

God, grant me serenity to accept the things I can not change,

the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

These words speak to things we've all experienced.  Interestingly, the author of the above prayer, Reinhold Niebuhr, originally wrote a few more sentences that the world and Hallmark cards have somehow left out.  Let me give you the prayer in its entirety.

God, grant me serenity to accept the things I can not 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

It is no wonder the world has embraced the first message in this prayer, while avoiding its deeper challenges.  The rest of the prayer addresses some important questions about faith:  How would I live?  Whom should I trust?  Who is my model for dealing with this world?  How does my life today affect my eternity?

As so often happens when we take part of something, we may get a warm feeling, but no real answers.  This prayer as a whole both guides and humbles.  I am reminded of these words in Scripture:

May this entire prayer encourage us as we approach a new autumn.

Blessings,

Thomas Cooper

Volume IV, Issue 4