One Nanosecond at a Time
Serenity – a major tool for peace of mind is the Serenity Prayer
the prayer I’m ALWAYS forgetting to say, when I most need it
I guess that’s why so many of us keep the Serenity Prayer right in front of us, maybe when we need it, we’ll use it…
One Nanosecond at a Time
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.
Sometimes I need the Nanosecond version of the Serenity Prayer, oh yeah, that version is wayyyy shorter. My sister, Ann texted me from her ski vacation in Colorado. She was trying the “fun” world of cross-country skiing for the first time. She was not serene. The harder she tried to glide, the more it did not happen. The more she tried to relax into the move, the more she tensed up. She used the short version of the Serenity Prayer a lot. In case you don’t know it, it’s an old joke to say,
“Hey, do you know the short version of the Serenity Prayer?”
“No.”
“It’s (expletive).”
I confess to having done the one word Serenity Prayer a lot too.
My sister Ann and I laughed, that’s a better short version of the Serenity Prayer.
My other favorite Anne, author Anne LaMott chronicles her imperfect journeys, including faith journeys, in Traveling Mercies and her other books of essays, says sometimes the best prayers are:
“Help, help, help” and then “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Ahh, those prayers I usually remember, but I still keep the Serentiy Prayer in front of me anyway. There’s not a day nor a nanosecond I don’t need this prayer.
So what are your quick prayers?
What is usually going on in your life when you say the following? “Right now I’m taking my life one nanosecond at a time.”
