So that I may be reasonably happy in this lifeĪnd supremely happy with You forever in the next. Trusting that You will make all things right Unfortunately, many people (including myself) aren’t familiar with the full version of the prayer.Īccepting hardship as a pathway to peace Personally whenever I hear it, it comforts me and brings me peace about my fertility journey. It’s often used as a devotion by those going through difficult life journeys. HowStuffWorks earns a small affiliate commission when you purchase through links on our site.The Serenity Prayer (short version) is one of the most popular prayers out there. And guess what? It worked, it really did." I prayed for enough serenity to get me through each day, without a drink and without succumbing completely to anxiety. So in times of stress, which were many, I prayed for it. "As I experienced some serenity in my life, being an alcoholic I naturally wanted more. "For a very long time in AA, I clung to the first line of the prayer ' with all the fervour with which the drowning seize life preservers.' It wasn't hard for me to pray for serenity, because serenity was what I had been looking for from a bottle and a glass, a pill, or whatever else seemed to offer me a momentary escape from my own often tormented head," wrote Tony on an AA UK website. The controversy is over and Niebuhr's humble prayer still resonates. In 2014, however, Shapiro confirmed Niebuhr's true authorship after tracking down Wygal's diary entry and discovering that Niebuhr had actually written the prayer in 1932, not 1942. Barnum's "There's a sucker born every minute." Shapiro is the editor of the authoritative " Yale Book of Quotations" and has debunked other famous attributions including P.T. I honestly do believe that I wrote it myself."įred Shapiro, a librarian at the Yale Law School, stirred up controversy in 2008 when he presented evidence that versions of the serenity prayer were in circulation years before Niebuhr claimed to have authored it in 1942. He and his wife guessed that it was written in 1942 or 1943, and Niebuhr admitted that he couldn't remember the genesis of the ideas in the prayer.Ī 1950 issue of the AA publication "Grapevine" quotes Niebuhr as saying, "Of course, may have been spooking around for years, even centuries, but I don't think so. Niebuhr was fairly certain that he had written it, but was foggy on the details. By 1950, the serenity prayer had become so well-known that people went searching for its author. The prayer was also shipped overseas during World War II and used in devotionals for American servicemen. In 1941, some AA members decided to have it printed up on cards that fellow members could carry in their wallets. the co-founder of AA said about the prayer. Serenity to accept what cannot be helped,Īnd insight to know the one from the other.īy the early 1940s, versions of the serenity prayer were beloved enough to be included in printed obituaries, which is where the AA first found it in the New York Herald Tribune. O God, give us courage to change what must be altered, Part of what we're seeing in Niebuhr's original version of the prayer is, what are we doing as a group? He was very concerned with what human groups could accomplish." "What we see in the AA formulation is the individualized version of the prayer for when we're dealing with stuff personally. "There are certain things in life that are moral imperatives and even if we can't change them in our moment, we're still called to work for those changes," says Sabella. Niebuhr's daughter, the literary editor and publisher Elisabeth Sifton, wrote a book about her father's prayer and believed that the original version went beyond asking what the individual "can" do to address what society as a whole must do in the name of justice. "In a single sentence, he's compacting grace, serenity, courage, wisdom and connecting it to one of the central conundrums of life: What can we shape and what can't we? When do we push ahead and when do we just accept where we're at?" says Sabella.Īlso significant is that Niebuhr's original version asks for the courage to change the things that "should" be changed, not the things that "can" be changed.
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