LETTERS: SERENITY PRAYER CAN GUIDE US ALL

To the editor:

I'm sure many of you reading this are familiar with the serenity prayer. This is addressed to those who may not know it or to those who are familiar but perhaps would like to be reminded of its meaning to me.

I am uncertain who wrote the prayer. It goes as follows: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference ."

In my opinion there are four key words in this prayer.

Serenity: Calmness.

Acceptance: You cannot change some situations or some people.

Courage: If you can change something or someone, then do so.

Wisdom: Knowing when to let go or what to do.

All of us must be willing to learn by this prayer. If not, we can only do harm to our well-being and state of mind.

BECCI PITTMAN

Jackson, Mo.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The author of the serenity prayer is Reinhold Niebuhr, a Yale Divinity School graduate and noted Protestant theologian who died in 1971. Niebuhr wrote the prayer in 1926. Niebuhr's brother, H. Richard Niebuhr, also was an influential Protestant theologian and ethicist. Richard died in 1961. The Niebuhr brothers were born in Wright City, Mo., which is just west of St. Louis on Interstate 70. The serenity prayer is much longer than the oft-quoted first stanza. Here is the prayer in its entirety:

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace.

Taking, as he did, this sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it.

Trusting that he will make all things right if I surrender to his will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with him forever in the next. Amen