Serenity Rising

I laid in bed last night, and somehow the very well-known—and some would even say “overused”—cliché of a prayer came to mind:

It arrested my mind, and I found solace in these lines.

And let me tell you—this is actually quite a deep prayer to pray.

Accepting a situation you cannot change doesn’t always come wrapped in a bow. Nope! Sometimes it comes with tears, tight chest, swallowed pride, and the quiet whisper, “Lord… I really don’t like this part.”

The prayer tells me to “Accept the things I cannot change…”

Whew. That one sits heavy, doesn’t it?

Because acceptance is not passive.

It’s not you giving up or rolling over.

It’s you unclenching your fists.

It’s you stepping out of the boxing ring with God and saying,

“Okay Lord… You take this round. I’m tired of swinging.”

Acceptance is maturity’s version of surrender.

It’s realizing that peace doesn’t always come from God changing the storm, but sometimes from Him changing you in the storm.

(Tell me why adulthood didn’t come with a manual for all this? We’re just out here learning serenity like trial-and-error apprentices.)- 🤦🏼‍♀️

But then comes the other line of the prayer – grant me the courage…

If acceptance is hard, courage is harder.

Because sometimes the things we can change are the things we keep avoiding:

• the habit we need to break,
• the conversation we need to have,
• the boundary we need to set,
• the healing we need to pursue.

Courage is not the absence of fear—it’s the decision that fear won’t sit in the driver’s seat today.

Buckle up, Fear. You can ride in the trunk.

Here’s the other outstanding part of the prayer -wisdom– wisdom to know the difference between acceptance and being courageous.

Wisdom is that spiritual GPS that recalculates when life takes a turn on us.

Wisdom says, “Sweet girl, this one isn’t yours to fix. Step back.”

Then in the next breath it says, “No no, this one is yours—get up, wipe your face, and make the move.”

And because my mind wouldn’t rest, I got curious. I wanted to know more about this prayer—its history, its origin, its purpose. And what I found made my late-night search quite rewarding.

So there I was… laying in the dark, trying to convince my brain that bedtime means sleep, not deep introspection hour.

But then this prayer wandered into my thoughts like it had something to teach me.

And honestly? I needed it.

Because there are things in my life right now—decisions, delays, disappointments—that I keep trying to wrestle to the ground. Meanwhile God is gently tapping me saying:

“Daughter, put that down. You can’t fix this one.”

And then there are situations where I’ve been waiting on God…

and He’s been waiting on me.

And listen—my little late-night rabbit hole didn’t stop there.

What I found in my research? Whew. It added layers to this prayer I never even knew existed.

But if I try to squeeze all that goodness in here, this blog will turn into a whole book.

So I’ll save that gem for the next post, because it deserves its own moment.😌

The Serenity Prayer came like a spiritual reset button.

• A reminder to breathe.
• To release.
• To act.
• To discern.

I just came by this morning to remind someone that God is still in the business of giving peace to tired hearts and clarity to overwhelmed minds.

You don’t have to have all the answers today.

You don’t have to fix everything today.

You just need serenity for what you can’t change, courage for what you can, and wisdom for the road in front of you.

Breathe, beloved.

God’s got you—every step, every storm, every sigh.