The first time I came across that prayer it was in a novel I read a long time ago: Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. A great book.You know what? Thirty years later, Vonnegut's book is still a great read.
And that prayer? First time I read it? All those years ago? It never registered. Words on a page. Read, forgotten.
A good long time as well as a lot of water (and other stuff) had to pass under the proverbial bridge before I was re-presented with that prayer. But at the moment that happened I knew I needed to know it. I didn't fully understand it, but I knew I needed it as one might need a compass to traverse unknown territory.
Ever since, I have meditated on it, studied it.
What does 'God' mean?
Good Orderly Direction?
What does 'grant' mean?
What can I change?
What can't I change?
What about 'me'?
Me, physically? Mentally? Emotionally? Attitudally? Intellectually?
What does 'accept' mean? What does 'serenity' mean? What does 'courage' mean? And 'wisdom', what about wisdom?
And I have asked all in supplication, in moments of need.
Used that prayer, let it use me.
So it goes: Wikipedia
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971): Wikipedia
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