It is one of the most well know Seinfeld episodes – Frank Constanza is given a “relaxation cassette” that encourages him to say, “serenity now” when his blood pressure is elevated. As you may recall, the technique is not terribly effective!
Yesterday when I was researching for the post on truth, I did some reading on the serenity prayer (as it contains the word “wisdom”).
While recent research has cast some doubt on the origins of the prayer, it has been long attributed to the 20th century American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.
A 1943 version of the prayer read:
God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed,
courage to change the things that should be changed,
and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
The version that is most well know due, in large part, to its use by Alcoholics Anonymous as the foundation of the twelve-step program of recovery is as follows:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can
and wisdom to know the difference.
We are two weeks out from election day (I would say the end of the election season, but there is some consensus that a number of the races will likely not be decided by the end of the day on November 3rd!). We are bombarded with political ads on television and the internet. Every day our mailbox is stuffed full of political mailers – each campaign seeking to outdo the other with the size of the card – and with a nod to yesterday’s post, I find myself asking, “what’s true?!”
It would be easy to become discouraged when inundated with so much that is negative and nasty.
While I appreciate the prayer just as it is, I think an alternate version would also be helpful:
God grant me the serenity to acknowledge when things are beyond my control,
Courage to do and/or change the things are within my control
And the wisdom to know the difference.
There is so much in this world that is beyond our control.
But there is a lot that is within our control.
We control how we respond to the challenges we face (respond not react!).
We cannot control the outcome of the election, but we can vote.
We cannot control what garbage is spewed in all types of media, but we can control what we consume (remote controls and track pads are powerful tools!).
We control how we treat others.
We control how we individually care for the environment.
We can love our neighbor.
We can care for the sick and those in need.
We can wring our hands about those things that are beyond our control or we can fold our hands and ask for God’s grace and wisdom to focus on that which is within our control.