This prayer has been a great tool during, during, and after treatment!
Not a religious prayer for me more of a spiritual thing!!
I have heard that religion is for people who don't want to go to hell, and spirituality is for people who have been there, and don't want to go back!!
The Serenity Prayer


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.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr






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By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: November 27, 2009

A Yale librarian who cast doubt last year on the origins of the Serenity Prayer, adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and reprinted on countless knickknacks, says new evidence has persuaded him to retain the famed Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr as the author in the next edition of The Yale Book of Quotations.
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The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr is widely credited as the author of the Serenity Prayer.
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Revisiting the Origin of a Famed Prayer
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If the prayer, which begins, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,” became a subject of controversy last year with the publication of an article by the librarian, Fred R. Shapiro, who is also the editor of the book of quotations. Mr. Shapiro had found archival materials that led him to express doubt that Niebuhr was the author.

But now another researcher trawling the Internet has discovered evidence that attributes the prayer to Niebuhr. The researcher, Stephen Goranson, works in the circulation department at the Duke University library, has a doctorate from Duke in the history of religion and, as a sideline, searches for the origins of words and sayings and publishes his findings in etymology journals. This month he found a Christian student newsletter written in 1937 that cites Niebuhr as the prayer’s author.

The prayer in the newsletter is slightly different from the contemporary one often printed on mugs and wall plaques. It reads, “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 contemporary version puts the phrase about serenity before the one about courage, but Mr. Goranson said in an interview, “I think the 1937 document very much strengthens the probability that Niebuhr wrote it.”

Mr. Shapiro agreed.

“The new evidence does not prove that Reinhold Niebuhr wrote it, but it does significantly improve the likelihood that he was the originator,” he said.

He added that unless there were further discoveries contradicting that assessment, “I will list the Serenity Prayer under Niebuhr’s name in my next edition of The Yale Book of Quotations.”

Niebuhr, who lived from 1892 to 1971, was a prophetic, politically attuned preacher who often spoke at universities and Y.M.C.A.’s, where he was more welcome than in the many churches that considered him too controversial. He influenced generations of theologians and political thinkers. Barack Obama said of him, “He’s one of my favorite philosophers.”

The Serenity Prayer was adopted by the U.S.O. in wartime, and by Alcoholics Anonymous, which uses it in its 12-step program. But even in Niebuhr’s lifetime, he faced accusations that he was not the prayer’s author. A magazine article in 1950 quoted him as saying: “Of course, it may have been spooking around for years, even centuries, but I don’t think so. I honestly do believe that I wrote it myself.”

Niebuhr’s family long maintained that he wrote the prayer in 1943, in the midst of World War II. But using Internet search engines, Mr. Shapiro found newspaper articles, pamphlets and a book that cited versions of the prayer and dated from as early as 1936. None of those materials attributed the prayer to Niebuhr (or, for that matter, to anyone else).

As a result, Mr. Shapiro (who writes occasionally for The New York Times Magazine and the Freakonomics blog at nytimes.com) wrote an article for The Yale Alumni Magazine positing that Niebuhr might have simply codified a popular prayer that was already in circulation.

The article also said: “This evidence is by no means conclusive. It is entirely possible that Niebuhr composed the prayer much earlier than he himself later remembered.”

But Niebuhr’s family, and many of his former students and adherents, were outraged. His daughter, Elisabeth Sifton, who had written a book called “The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War” (W. W. Norton, 2003), published a rebuttal in the alumni magazine. She argued that her father had often delivered oral versions of a prayer before ever writing it down and that this prayer was quintessentially Niebuhr.

She also said she had cited 1943 in her book as the date the Serenity Prayer was first used because that was what she had heard from her parents. But had she known about the documents Mr. Shapiro found, she said, she might have cited an earlier date.

The debate played out in a front-page article in The New York Times in July 2008.

The evidence newly discovered, by Mr. Goranson, was in a Christian student publication, The Intercollegian and Far Horizons, in an article titled “What Makes a Strong Student Christian Association.” He uncovered it in a database search, and was able to find a paper copy in the library. He posted an item about his find on a Listserv of language scholars, and Mr. Shapiro brought it to the attention of The Times.

At the end of the article is a list of 10 attributes of a strong Christian student association. The last of them is that such an association should be “inspired by the prayer attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr.” The article then gives the version of the prayer that begins, “Father, give us courage to change what must be altered.”

The article says the list is being reprinted from another newsletter, News and Views, which Mr. Goranson said he had not been able to find in any library.

In a telephone interview, Ms. Sifton said of the new find, “I think it’s an interesting small item, which confirms what I’ve thought for some time”: Niebuhr is unquestionably the author.

“As every living pastor knows,” she said, “prayers evolve and change. You use them in one service and another context, and slowly you refine the hopes and aspirations you want to express.”
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before during and after TX that is!!!! I use the serenity for brain farts as well!

I say it at least once a day.

Some days I have to say it a lot more than once!!

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin....All my relations. I honor you in this circle of life with me today. I am grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge you in this prayer....

To the Creator, for the ultimate gift of life, I thank you.

To the mineral nation that has built and maintained my bones and all foundations of life experience, I thank you.

To the plant nation that sustains my organs and body and gives me healing herbs for sickness, I thank you.

To the animal nation that feeds me from your own flesh and offers your loyal companionship in this walk of life, I thank you.

To the human nation that shares my path as a soul upon the sacred wheel of Earthly life, I thank you.

To the Spirit nation that guides me invisibly through the ups and downs of life and for carrying the torch of light through the Ages. I thank you.

To the Four Winds of Change and Growth, I thank you.

You are all my relations, my relatives, without whom I would not live. We are in the circle of life together, co-existing, co-dependent, co-creating our destiny. One, not more important than the other. One nation evolving from the other and yet each dependent upon the one above and the one below. All of us a part of the Great Mystery.

Thank you for this Life.

From a friend of mine in Canada, she is a full blooded Cherokee. What I like most is there are no Amen's



Peace

Ed

Thank you RTD.

Thank you Ed.

Whatever gets you through the night in a peaceful, loving way.

I'll burn my incense and keep you all in my thoughts.

May each and every one of you find the strength you need to get you down the path in a positive way.

peace

whitey

There are many different paths to serenity. The great father in the sky takes care of us but of course we must strive to help ourselves! The goal is to achieve this serenity.Stress especially for us hep c people is not acceptable.

And I am so stressed out this week no matter what I do. It's all I can do to take a deep breath and relax a second.

Believe me, Rob, if I say it only once a day, that's a fucking good day!

Thanks for this thread. This is going on the fridge.

This thread is bordering on the metaphysical. I'm with Ed's last remark.

The word "amen" is of Hebrew origin and simply means- so be it. Seems like a harmless enough ending to any meaningful supplication...

not when it is scripted it isn't.

Its origin is of no importance. It's the exit we're talking about.

Well, amen to that!

Coal black lightning out of dark shimmer

Oy Vay!!! :-)

I just got back from being at my Mom's computer-free zone for the Thanksgiving weekend, hello!!! I say the Serenity Prayer alot...... Peace and Love, Fran

Bump!

double bump with a don't quit chaser and a nice nice link
http://positive-thoughts.typepad.com/positive-thou ghts/

The Don't Quit presentation is based on a famous poem which was written many years ago. The author of this poem is unknown. Sadly, in recent years a number of people have claimed ownership of the poem and some have even claimed to have written it themselves!

Here is the original poem in it's entirety:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Author unknown

Shut up or speak for yourself, Robbie. I know you're able. In the meantime let me present a poem of my own:

21: All my friends are dead
All my friends are dead
Lord have mercy and it ain't no lie
All my friends are dead

22: It's been haunting me (oh lordie)
It's been haunting me
Lord have mercy and it ain't no lie
It's been haunting me

23: I'll be dead and gone ( boy)
I'll be dead and gone
Lord have mercy and it ain't no lie
I'll be dead and gone

24: Don't you pity me
don't you pity me
lord have mercy and it ain't no lie
don't you pity me

25: Seen trouble all my days
seen trouble all my days
lord have mercy and it ain't no joke
seen trouble all my days

26: I keep rolling on
I keep rolling on
Lord have mercy and it ain't no lie
I keep rolling on

27: All my friends are dead
All my friends are dead
lord have mercy or whatever you have
all my friends are dead.

28: Con man walked the line
the con man walked the line
lord have a pint of beer and don't bother me no more

-Author known for those who care.

Rob sez
Treat people the way you want to be treated. My Dad taught me that one but I'll take that one for myself :-)!
Imagine Peace
RTD

~ They are beautiful words RTD *

Rob - hoping that things ease up for you and that better days are ahead. All the best to you, your Mom and family.

All the best to you, Rob. Please excuse my self- centered insert above. Just back from the mountain where that post came from. One phine day happiness will smile at you !

Pelle
I have known and loved you since I entered the zone and hopefully we can meet one of these daze.
Peace
Imagine
RTD

Back at you, Rob. I would love that. US east coast is only 7 hours away, hope to be able to make it some day.If you're ever going to Europe please notify. I'll be your host in Norway.