My love for “Seinfeld” never ends. There must have been a recovering alcoholic on the writing staff of that show, for references to AA are peppered throughout the seasons. In one episode, Frank Costanza, George’s father, repeatedly shouts, “Serenity now!” when he is agitated or annoyed. Told by his doctor to do this every time he feels his blood pressure rising, George asks, “Are you supposed to yell it?”
Yelling “Serenity now!” is a far cry from the serenity prayer itself, but based on a simple concept. By asking for serenity, you are making a plea to someone else, someone with a little more power than you, to give you a break, to give you serenity.
Followers of AA have their own version of Frank Costanza’s rant, the Serenity Prayer.
“God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.”
I have to be honest and tell you that I never really said this prayer, in fact I had to look it up to get the wording right. Any proper AA follower would know it backwards and forwards. However, I believe that it works wonders for those who believe in a higher power and it actually makes sense. If we realize that we can’t (and probably don’t want to) control everything, our lives might be a little more serenity-filled.
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