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The Courage to Change the Things We Can
And a challenge to get to work
One of the most positive experiences in my journey of recovery from alcohol abuse continues to be a rediscovery of spirituality. For me, this means regular prayer and quiet times of meditation and reflection.
A favorite and simple prayer: The Serenity Prayer
The short version goes like this:
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.
I find these simple words apply to many situations. Mostly, I focus on acceptance.
But, reading a piece written by a pastor from North Carolina caused me to focus on the second part of that prayer: The courage to change the things I (we) can.
It strikes me that the tumultuous times we now find ourselves in call for courage. As Pastor Murphy suggests, America is a nation where:
From the beginning, people who deny the founding ideal of this country that “all men are created equal” have sought and won power and authority. Even the men who declared their independence did not believe that “all” included indigenous people, those they enslaved or women.
