Every member of Alcoholics Anonymous knows the Serenity Prayer. Many know it is part of a longer prayer, but few have looked past the words in the short version we use in every meeting. In this post, we look at the history and meaning of the full version of the serenity prayer. Here are the original words of this beautiful 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 things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.
Amen.”
History
The long version of the serenity prayer was created by the Christian writer and American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in the 1930s and quickly became very popular. It was first printed in the 1944 Book of Prayers and Services for the Armed Forces in World War II, but by that stage, it was already being widely used in church groups as one of the most popular prayers.
Bill W., a co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, introduced it into AA in the early 1940s, and it has become known as the AA prayer. Bill W. said of the prayer, “Never had we seen so much A.A. in such few words.” Other twelve-step programs have adopted the Serenity Prayer, which is read at many step meetings.
The prayer has been incorrectly attributed to Saint Augustine and Saint Francis of Assisi. Although there have been several variations, we have selected this particular version of the serenity prayer because it is the most popular.
Line by Line
Here we briefly unpack each line of this wonderful prayer.
God grant me the serenity
This is the line that defines the name of the prayer. Our lives were flooded with troubles, and many of us used this absence of serenity as an excuse to enable our drinking. During sobriety, we ask for serenity so we can live a peaceful life and be patient with others.
To accept the things I cannot change;
What can we not change? Our past actions, words, and errors. This ties into the ninth step promise “We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity, and we will know peace.” We ask to have the serenity to accept whatever circumstance comes our way.
Courage to change the things I can;
Change can take courage. It can be intimidating to correct the past. Making amends can be a source of fear. But it is more than that. It is the courage to say no to the offered drink or line of cocaine because that is the change you need to make and have the courage to change the answers you would have given.
And wisdom to know the difference.
We need God or, if you prefer, our Higher Power to guide us and grant us wisdom because to chase after the impossible is a recipe for losing serenity. In a way precursing the Serenity Prayer, the Greek philosopher Epictetus wrote: “Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. Some things are up to us, and some things are not. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions—in short, whatever our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is, whatever is not our own doing.”
Living one day at a time;
We know the maxim, Just for Today. All AA members do. Here we find an echo of it. Living one moment at a time. We remember the past, we plan the future, but we can only live now. Niebuhr urges us to live in the present as we can. This is not without concern for anyone else, but living it in a way that glorifies the God of our understanding.
Enjoying one moment at a time;
We often focus too much on what we are missing rather than enjoying what we have. Being in the moment allows us to enjoy life on life’s terms.
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Nothing is ever smooth. Accepting hardships as a fact allows us the opportunity to transcend, overcome, and grow. Viktor Frankl said that one freedom nobody could take away from us was choosing how we reacted. We can accept hardships as an opportunity to learn lessons about inner peace or anger and resentment.
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
These two lines form a unit. The Christian follows the way of Jesus Christ, and the Bible is rich in examples of Christ’s acceptance of this world as it is. He spoke and interacted with people who were sinners, who were flawed, who were no better than you and me, and He accepted them, and He accepted us as we should accept this world and others in it.
Trusting that He will make things right
If I surrender to His Will;
In step 3 of the 12 steps we “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” This part of the serenity prayer deals with the faith we need to believe that He will help and the conditions for it to happen. For our Higher Power to be effective, we need to surrender to His will not only for us but also for those we encounter during our lives.
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
There may well be no perfect happiness in this life, but we can strive to find what happiness we can during it. The prayer has already alluded to the source of happiness. It is through courage and wisdom that we become serene.
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.
This is a final couplet that promises salvation. It is very much based on Christian thought, and there may be those of us who do not think of our Higher Power in the same light as those who adhere to Christianity. Despite this, there is comfort in the idea of eternal, supreme joy.
Conclusion
The words of the full Serenity Prayer tie in remarkably well with the thoughts of the 12 steps of the A. A. program and are well worth including in a list of daily prayers. It provides ideas for finding the serenity of the mind we need. Let me say again that we become serene through courage and wisdom.
The long version of the prayer goes deeper into achieving serenity of mind and looks at what we can gain from this. Becoming acquainted with this deepens our own understanding of the short version that has, since the 1940s, been a source of inspiration and focus for those who have been trying to recover and, in many instances, to achieve recovery from substance abuse.
I sometimes think it should be called the acceptance prayer because it emphasizes the need to accept that we also need courage and wisdom.
Note: Except where specified all quotes are from the book Alcoholics Anonymous, also known as the Big Book.