I have a friend who says that the basis of all true religion is believing that “There is a God and I’m not him.” That’s the spirit of this updating of the Serenity Prayer by Jim Martin, SJ.
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the people I cannot change,
which is pretty much everyone,
since I’m clearly not you, God.
At least not the last time I checked.
And while you’re at it, God,
please give me the courage
to change what I need to change about myself,
which is frankly a lot, since, once again,
I’m not you, which means I’m not perfect.
It’s better for me to focus on changing myself
than to worry about changing other people,
who, as you’ll no doubt remember me saying,
I can’t change anyway.
Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up
whenever I think that I’m clearly smarter
than everyone else in the room,
that no one knows what they’re talking about except me,
or that I alone have all the answers.
Basically, God,
grant me the wisdom
to remember that I’m
not you.
Amen
Jim Manney
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellentum!
Oh, this was meant for judge-y old me!
m.
that’s excellent, thanks for making it known!
Awesome! And real
I had never heard this formulation of “true religion” before and I have to say it’s pretty brilliant!
Oh, I love this. I do love it. Thank you for the most refreshing reality break ever.
Really great prayer.
Definitely brilliant.
Truly amazing. Work of God. !!!
WOW!! I love it! Very thought-provoking and just a bit squirm-inducing!