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.
The Serenity Prayer has been a source of comfort and clarity for many people from many walks of life for the last century. Its origins may go further back that. The genius of this simple prayer is that it reveals to us that we cannot control all the conditions of the world around us, and yet there will be things we can change, indeed that we are called by Spirit to change. Once we have been granted the wisdom to know what is ours to do, how do we summon the courage needed to change?