Desiring God's Will - Praying with the Church

It is a blessing to be able to pray alongside God's people through the ages. Sometimes their words are what we wanted to say, but we couldn't express it ourselves. Sometimes their words are the words that we should be praying, but we didn't even realize it. God uses others' prayers to shape us and our prayers. The Serenity Prayer is used in its short form by Alcoholics Anonymous and other recovery groups. Here is the original long form from American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, which includes the focusing phrase,

“if I surrender to your will.”

***

God,

Give me Grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, 

Courage to change the things which should be changed, 

and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. 

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.