Reinhold Niebuhr’s 1943 widely recognized prayer is simply worded, yet profoundly decorated in Christian wisdom.
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.
Accepting the things that I cannot change. Essentially, that means giving up the feeble attempts to control everything and turning to trust Christ instead. However, that does not imply that it’s time to just sit around and wait…
Courage to change the things I can. When it seems as though there is no way out, it’s tempting to fall into a pit of self-centered dispair. In these moments, it’s time to turn to the Father with a heart of gratitude, praise and prayer.
I’m tired of just focusing on surviving. I’m tired of surviving. I’m tired of pretending that, one day, life will be more than just surviving and I will have the chance to follow those things that I am passionate about. Why can’t that day be today? Why should circumstance determine whether or not I’m involved in more than just surviving? I don’t need money or nice clothes to do more than just survive. In fact, none of these worldly things are required in order to turn care into an action. If I were to wait until everything was ‘in order’, (let’s just be honest here) I’d be waiting a lifetime.
There’s more to living than just surviving. Go ahead, get involved.
