Friday, May 17, 2013

Serenity Prayer


Many people are familiar with the Serenity Prayer. Members of the Alcoholics Anonymous have adopted it as their motto, and are especially fond of it and carry it with them, quote it frequently and share with others. But then there are others who go even further with this prayer. A woman came to the office a few years ago, to ask for some help, and I noticed that she had this prayer tattooed on her neck. I politely asked her if I could take a picture of this unique tattoo and she had no objection, as you can see from these two photos I am posting today.


It must be very painful to have a tattoo anywhere engraved on your body, but it must have been even more so having it done on your throat, on your neck. Nonetheless it was nicely done. By the way this prayer was written between 1941 and 1942 by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971.) This is the original prayer:
God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a 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, so that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.

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