Ah Man Blog

The Serenity Prayer: A Summary

We have been breaking down The Serenity Prayer this past month and now I’d like to sum it all up.

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

This prayer sums up the 12 steps of any 12-Step program, especially the first three steps. I’d like to share with you a side-by-side comparison of the first three steps of AA and the three lines of The Serenity Prayer.

Step One:

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol (or whatever you are having a problem with) - that our lives had become unmanageable.

Line one of the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

Conclusion:

I can’t fix it, I’m powerless.

Step Two:

Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Line Two of the Serenity Prayer:

The courage to change the things I can.

Conclusion:

I know I can’t and believe “He can.”

Step Three:

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Line Three of the Serenity Prayer:

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Conclusion:

I think I’ll let Him. Allowing myself to get out of the way to make room for God in my life.

Thanks to all of you for your feedback and thoughts on The Serenity Prayer.

Peace and love,
Michael

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And the Wisdom to Know the Difference

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

In the July Ah-Man Newsletter, I related how the Serenity Prayer has helped me see things from a different perspective.

In the last two weeks, I examined the first two lines of the prayer.  So now in week three, we will explore the third line.

“And the wisdom to know the difference”

The first two lines help us with discernment and discrimination. They have helped us spiritually. First, we are now being granted God’s grace of judgment and distinction… knowing that “all things happen for a reason” and being granted the Grace of Serenity. Secondly, we see things from a new perspective. Knowing that our way was not working, we asked for the Courage to Change. And when we surrendered our way, we were able to see things differently…from a new perspective; a perspective that is now from a spiritual standpoint.

This new perspective is not of us, but of God or the God within us. As it is stated in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (after we have put the steps of the program into our lives, following the spiritual program): “We will be able to handle situations that used to baffle us.”

Our judgment will be aligned with a Higher Power so long as we incorporate this prayer into our lives, every thought and every action.

We will have control of our emotions and passions. We will not be controlled by them, but we’ll be able to make decisions from a spiritual place, even when dealing with mundane things.

To sign up to receive newsletters and updates from Michael, scroll to the bottom of the Ah-Man Web Site. You’ll find additional information and resources in the latest issue of the Ah-Man Newsletter.

The Courage to Change the Things I Can

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

In the July Ah-Man Newsletter, I related how the Serenity Prayer has helped me see things from a different perspective.

In last week’s blog post, we looked at the first line of the prayer. This week, we’ll look at the second line of the prayer.

“The courage to change the things I can”

The second line of the Serenity Prayer can be examined in two parts.

The “courage to change” sounds simple enough and, indeed, it is. In most cases, the only thing we can change is ourselves and our perspective.

After doing things in a certain way for so long, we need courage to see things differently. Why?  Because we are admitting that “our” way didn’t work. It didn’t bring us the lasting peace we wanted and brought calamity to us and those around us.

So we need to change and do things differently, which, in some cases, might mean “upsetting the apple cart,” so to speak. People around us also are used to seeing us doing things in a certain way. They might want us to get better, but that may necessitate a change in the way we do things; a change the people around us don’t want, because they are used to our dysfunction and, possibly, used to themselves being in charge. So it’s not always so black and white.

The courage to change the “things we can.” The second part of that line is equally important. As I mentioned earlier, we really can only ask God’s help in changing ourselves, i.e., either our actions or our outlook/perspective. If we go around asking God to change this person or that situation, where is the serenity that we asked to be granted? Are we not trying to be in charge once more? Can’t we see how being in charge got us into the pickle that led to our need to request serenity in the first place?

Next week, we’ll look at the third line of the prayer.

To sign up to receive newsletters and updates from Michael, scroll to the bottom of the Ah-Man Web Site. You’ll find additional information and resources in the latest issue of the Ah-Man Newsletter.

The Serenity Prayer: A Different Perspective

As I mentioned in the July Ah-Man Newsletter, I want to share how the Serenity Prayer (also known as the 12-Step Prayer) has helped me see things from a different perspective. I hope that you will share with me your experiences, as well.

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

For me at first, the first line of this prayer was just that: one line of a prayer. But later, when I was alone and repeated the first line over and over to myself, I began to experience many different aspects of those words.

For example, the first three words: “God grant me.” I am not asking for something as in other prayers, e.g., “God, give me my daily bread.” Here, I am asking for a grant; asking God to “allow me” in His time, not my time. To know that I am being allowed God’s grace. Even though I know that this is what God wants for me, I respectfully ask God to allow me. I also am not asking for others. This is between the God of my understanding and me. Not between or for anyone else.

The next two words, “the serenity,” when brought together with the first three words, brings this meaning to me: God/Divine Mother, allow me the tranquility…peacefulness…stillness… calmness…composure…allow me to receive those very things that are within me, instilled by you.

“To accept the things I cannot change” is the last part of the first line. In the July Ah-Man Newsletter, I spoke of Surrendering, a reference to spiritual surrender. The Serenity Prayer translates the concept of spiritual surrender into words.

The spiritual surrender comes about because you have done all you can and, most likely, the outcome is out of your control, so you are asking God to “allow” you to feel the peacefulness in the midst of a situation that has a different outcome than you would have liked. You have done all you could. However, the situation hasn’t changed to your liking and now that you know everything comes to us from God, you are asking to be allowed to see that in this situation.

Next week, we’ll examine the second line of the prayer.

Until then,
Namaste

To sign up to receive newsletters and updates from Michael, scroll to the bottom of the Ah-Man Web Site. You’ll find additional information and resources in the latest issue of the Ah-Man Newsletter.