The Serenity Prayer (Part 2):
“to accept the things I cannot change…
One accepts when one receives. To understand, to take into the mind without debate as one receives a gift – this is acceptance. Serenity precedes acceptance. It must. There is order to this. My mind must be calm in order to understand what you are saying. To listen to you without debate, I must not be afraid of you. With the gift of Serenity, I am able to accept people and circumstances as they are, not as I want them to be or as I think they should be. I am willing to accept the bad as well as the good, because it is all part of the plan. When I accept a situation as it is, when I accept you as you are, I have stopped playing God.”
My work in the program has humbled me as I’ve learned to view myself in relation to God. For reasons that don’t matter now, I always felt that I had to be in charge of my life and those closest to me. But when Addiction hijacked my daughter, I was not only blindsided but powerless as well. It took me a long time to accept that Angie was in the grips of something far greater than either one of us. This acceptance enabled me to let go of my illusion of control and turn to my Higher Power for help. My faith continues to get me through the darkest days because I’m not in charge—He is.