I received a chain email the other day – honestly I have not seen one in a very long time. This one was not met with my delete button; I happily forwarded it to friends. Why? Not because it was promising riches if I did, and not because it promised an eternity of bad luck if I did not. I passed in on because I was happy to share my thoughts, and I was very interested in receiving the responses from others. So what was this chain email? It was a request to help build a collection of constructive and uplifting interfaith devotionals. How cool is that? I was asked to share an encouraging quote, prayer, or verse with the person at the top of the list.It didn’t take me but a minute to realize what I was going to pass on. For me the message I fall back on when I need encouragement is the Serenity Prayer.
I imagine the serenity prayer has been around for many years. However for me, it came into light one day when I was a young mother watching TV. I had recently lost my sister. Even as I held my infant son, my days were filled with grief and sorrow. On TV that day – I do not recall the show, but it was a talk show – was a Kennedy family member – again my mind does not recall the specifics. But the conversation was in regard to Rose Kennedy and the amount of loss that this woman had suffered in her life time. Wow! This was a woman (alive at the time of the TV show) that had buried four of her children. I could not imagine the depth of this woman’s sorrow. The TV host asked the family member what was it that gave Rose strength each day. The answer was that she had a pillow on her bed that was decorated with the Serenity Prayer. This prayer was there for her to see every morning and every night.The prayer itself is longer than the lines above, but it is these few lines that are so powerful for me. When you are searching for answers, trying to figure out why? This is my fallback- When looking for inner peace, sometimes we need to learn to accept. Other times we need to step up and take a stand, make a change – and for this we need courage. Above all we need wisdom.
So for me, when life gets challenging, I turn to the Serenity Prayer. These words have helped me navigate the sometimes turbulent times of life.
And now,
What words do you find uplifting during challenging times?
Share them here and let’s build collection for all to see.
