The Serenity Prayer
The Serenity Prayer is one of the most prayed prayers of the modern era — used in twelve-step recovery, hospital chapels, and ordinary Christian devotion. A simple ask: courage, serenity, and the wisdom to know the difference.
The prayer
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 hardships as the 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; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.
History & tradition
Composed by Reinhold Niebuhr in the early 1940s. Made worldwide through Alcoholics Anonymous and the broader twelve-step recovery movement. The short version (the first three lines) is universally known; the longer prayer above is Niebuhr's original.
When to pray it
Pray the Serenity Prayer at moments of frustration over what you cannot control — a difficult person, a slow illness, a situation that refuses to resolve. Many people pray it daily as a baseline of sanity.
Three short alternatives
Saint Francis's Peace Prayer
'Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith...' (Attributed to St Francis of Assisi, though the modern wording is early 20th-century.)
Romans 12:18 prayer
Pray: 'Lord, as much as lieth in me, let me live peaceably with all. Where it does not lie in me — give me grace to release.' Based on Romans 12:18.
Psalm 131
Three short verses on the soul that has stopped striving: 'LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters... Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother.'
Pair it with daily practice
Pray the Serenity Prayer in Quiethaven's prayer timer — set five minutes and pray the long version slowly. For ongoing surrender, see our verses about anxiety.
"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." — Philippians 4:6 (KJV)
Pray this with Quiethaven — free on iPhone.
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