The Serenity Prayer
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.
From my first school-assigned attendance to OA, NA or the like meeting, hearing this familiar prayer moved mountains for me.
So did, especially, the NA mantra, as I would call it, "Just for Today."
I was reading the serenity prayer last night before bed. The familiar part is not what spoke to me so loudly this time. It was the second part; the part which is usually left out and not recited. This second part is SO good. It goes like this:
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the 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.
"Living one day at a time..."
Just for Today.
"Enjoying one moment at a time..."
Each day, and just for that day of today, enjoying every moment for what it is: a moment that can only exist right now, in the here-and-now, Just for Today. Not for yesterday or last week, not for tomorrow or next month, Just for Today.
"Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace..."
Acceptance. Accepting your suffering, your weakness and, more importantly, accepting your strengths! Give yourself credit for your strengths in every one of your Today's. Don't run from your past or your weaknesses. Don't make excuses for them. Don't catastrophize them. Get to know them, accept them, recognize them and allow yourself to let go of them, Just for Today. Acceptance...of your whole self. This is a key piece of finding peace and recovery.
"Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it..."
Accept the world; it is as He would have it (whoever "He", someone/something greater than yourself, is to you). It should be this way because it is this way. The world is not as you may fantasize or write silent fairy tales about. It is not as you may wish it is or what you sulk about because of what it isn't. Take it, this life, as it is, daily and Just for Today.
"That I may be reasonably happy in this life..."
Key word: reasonably.
Not supremely. Supremely comes next...
"and supremely (happy) with Him forever in the next. Amen"
Just for Today.
Just because I am almost 7 months "clean" from ED does not mean that tomorrow, when that Today comes, that it doesn't deserve my undivided attention.
Every day is a new day. Every day is a new Just for Today.
I choose, Just for Today, on every single new Today, to stay clean.
Keep coming back.
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