God, grant me the serenity
to accept the people I cannot change,
which is pretty much everyone,
since I’m clearly not you, God.
At least not the last time I checked.
And while you’re at it, God,
please give me the courage
to change what I need to change about myself,
which is frankly a lot, since, once again,
I’m not you, which means I’m not perfect.
It’s better for me to focus on changing myself
than to worry about changing other people,
who, as you’ll no doubt remember me saying,
I can’t change anyway.
Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up
whenever I think that I’m clearly smarter
than everyone else in the room,
that no one knows what they’re talking about except me,
or that I alone have all the answers.
Basically, God,
grant me the wisdom
to remember that I’m
not you.
Amen.
By Father James Martin, S.J., an American Jesuit priest, writer and editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine, America. He is the author of the best-selling, Learning to Pray and My Life with the Saints.
Thanks to Lucas Pezeta for the picture
Fr. Martin’s version of the Serenity Prayer is a good one to keep handy and to pray often.
YOU CAN’T EXPECT GOD TO BE THE SOURCE OF YOUR PEACE IF THE WORLD IS THE SOURCE OF YOUR SATISFACTION!!
