Dear Friends On Our Journey ~

My name is Mari and I am a grateful recovering compulsive overeater. This is an excerpt from my Journey to Recovery.

In the Introduction I wrote to you that my favorite of all prayers was The Serenity Prayer and that one could live their entire life with just this one prayer if we had to. As I write this, I want to focus on the words of the prayer itself and I am paying extra attention to the line that begins this special mantra of mine.

The first line of the Serenity Prayer says "God, grant us the SERENITY to accept the things we cannot change." There are two words in here that stood out from all the others the very first time I heard this beautiful prayer. The words "serenity" and "accept."

Why would we need "serenity" to accept the things we cannot change. Why not "patience?" Or "love?" Or "trust?" Or any number of other good words. Why SERENITY?

I've thought about this long and hard .... and I really can't think of a better choice of word to use. If we are fighting our way through life and dealing with everything we must deal with in order to live with this disease we all share, we are going to have a hard time accepting ourselves ... Of being content with ourselves ... Of even LIKING ourselves, much less loving ourselves ... if we don't have serenity.

The word "serenity" even sounds so. Calm. Peaceful. Tranquil. If we are able to make ourselves serene ... if we can stop long enough to rest and be at peace with ourselves and the world around us .... then MAYBE we can have enough serenity in our lives to accept "the things we cannot change" simply because we are calm enough to know that we really don't have any other options.

This first sentence really should be the LAST sentence of the Serenity Prayer. Because before we make the decision to "accept the things we cannot change." we have to have the courage to change the things we can." And even before that, we have to have the wisdom to know the difference. Then .... and ONLY then .... can we can have the serenity to accept the things we cannot change.

As for the second word that stands out .... ACCEPT? That's another share.

For another day.

Dear 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.

Love in recovery,
Mari
Marisok@aol.com
The Recovery Group

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