The Serenity Prayer: Original Version

The Serenity Prayer: Original Version

In 1943, theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote the Serenity Prayer for a church sermon. This prayer, an appeal for grace, courage and wisdom, has become closely associated with AA, often recited at meetings all over the world. Adopted in the late 1940’s by AA, it remains a favorite prayer for Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon and other 12-step groups.

Interestingly, the prayer was changed from “give us grace ” to “grant me the serenity”.

Niebuhr’s daughter, Elisabeth Sifton, wrote the book, “The Serenity Prayer”, which explores the circumstances that led her father to write the prayer.  The book can be found many places online. I ran across this audio interview of Ms. Sifton on the NPR website a few years ago and have included a link to it here:  NPR Audio Interview

Lasting about 20 minutes, I hope you set aside time to find out more about this humble man.

Find a framed copy at our website.

The Serenity Prayer – Original Version
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

God, give us 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.

Family Warfare vs Common Welfare

When I first hit the doors of AA, it was not a stretch to admit that my life had become unmanageable. I was a divorced 30-year-old part-time mother who had just moved back home and was living in the basement. I say “part-time mother” because my two children lived with their father 9 months of the year. I worked the 12-steps like they told me and found a certain peace within myself and a renewed love of God. But I continued to settle for less than good relationships.

FAMILY WARFARE

My own childhood was a picture-perfect family–of the alcoholic kind, that is. My memories were that of

Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Play by Stephen Bergman and Janet Surrey

Have you had an opportunity to see the play “Bill W. and Dr. Bob”?

Written by Dr. Stephen Bergman (psychiatrist) and his wife, Janet Surrey (clinical psychologist) http://www.nytheatre.com/interview.aspx?v=bergman,  I recently had the good fortune of watching the play at our local Center for the Arts.

I attended the play with my husband, who is also an alcoholic, and 15 other friends from the “Program”, both AA and Al-Anon. In fact, it sure seemed that the entire audience was in recovery as the conversation flowed easily between strangers, just as it does at meetings.

I went with reservations–how can people who are not in the Program going to be able to tell a story that is very well-known to the audience and in an entertaining way?

Reflections on 26 Years of Alcoholic Sobriety

About Sobriety

• I have as much sobriety today as someone who quit drinking yesterday.
• The number of years of sobriety will not help anyone stay sober.
• God took away my compulsion to drink from the beginning but most people struggle with the obsession.
• The “passing parade” is very long.
• Sometimes people die before they get recovery.
• Not Drinking is way different from Being Sober.
• Going to treatment more than one time is a waste of money and hope.
• It is “God as we understood Him”– it is not “god of our understanding”; there is a huge difference.
• At 8-10 years of continuous sobriety, the ego kicks into high gear and the ears shut down.
• Recovery only happens one day at a time.
• The same determination to drink (thinking, planning and carrying out no matter the cost) is exactly what is needed for the recovery process. Alcoholics already have what is necessary to succeed.
• God had everything in place for me to stop and stay stopped–I had to want it.
• The more difficult it is, the closer the miracle.
• There are a lot of talented, gifted, intelligent, lovely, funny, caring alcoholics.
• There are no shortcuts to recovery.

About The Family

• Alcoholism is a Family Disease: it’s not just about the alcoholic.
• A person can feel so much pain it is hard to breathe.
• Alcoholism Kills: the Love of the Family, the Hope of the Future, the Joy of Life.
• Consequences: the alcoholic family’s greatest tool.
• We do not need to be ashamed about who we love.
• People quit drinking when THEY are ready and not one split second before that.
• Detachment with love is vital to physical health, not just mental health.
• Much of what we call Help is really an attempt to quell our own emotions.
• A person CAN be mentally and emotionally addicted to another person.
• Al-Anons also hit bottom and have slips.
• Recovering alcoholics begin to drift into Al-Anon at about 18 years of sobriety.
• There is much joy in the Al-Anon rooms.
• There are no shortcuts to recovery.