“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.”
For years, the twenty five words of the Serenity Prayer have acted as a guiding light for those of us battling addiction and our own inner demons. The words embody a few core principles of recovery, and many of us can even recite them by heart. It’s not the ease with which we can remember these words that makes them so powerful, however. It’s the meaning of the Serenity Prayer that makes it such a guiding light for us, and such an excellent tool to help us give context to why we take the actions we take in recovery.
To fully understand the meaning of the Serenity Prayer, we must first break it down into its three core concepts: serenity, courage, and wisdom.
When we ask God for serenity, we’re referring to inner peace, calm, and quiet. We’re asking him to help us let go of ego, anxiety, stress, and any other emotions or dispositions that can weigh us down and prevent us from seeing and feeling clearly. Serenity is a peace we can feel, and a comfort that relaxes us. We can’t control everything, and we can often change even less. Serenity helps us realize that that’s perfectly okay.
The meaning of courage in the Serenity Prayer is two-fold. We’re asking God to help us deal with the problems, inner maladies, and issues of life without relying on substances, and we’re also asking him to give us the strength to make the changes in our lives that can be hard to make. Getting sober isn’t easy, but with the courage to continue to better ourselves and make the changes we have to make for ourselves, we can keep pushing forward even when the road gets rough.
Finally, when we seek wisdom in the last part of the prayer, we’re seeking discernment. We won’t always know the meaning of everything that happens in our lives, but in praying the serenity prayer, we’re asking God to help us release judgment about ourselves, seek the right people for help making the right decisions, and understand what it is we need to change or accept. We’re asking for God to make our recovery path clear, and to give us the knowledge we need to make the choices that will determine our future.
At The Last House sober living facility, we understand the meaning and importance of the Serenity Prayer, and we encourage our men to apply its concepts within their recovery journeys. Serenity, courage, and wisdom are a powerful recipe for building powerful men. Call us at 1-866-677-0090 to see how we can help you today.