Watch a musical rendition of this prayer, performed by Terre Roche of “The Roches,” here.
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.
Related prayers from James Martin, S.J.:
- A Prayer for Pope Francis During his Hospitalization
- A Prayer at Ground Zero
- Sad, tired and angry: A prayer in the face of gun violence
- A Thanksgiving Prayer for Nearly Everyone
- A Christmas prayer for (nearly) everyone
- A New Year’s prayer for nearly everyone
- A Thanksgiving prayer in the time of Covid
- A Prayer for the Election
- An Election Day Prayer from Father James Martin
- A Hurricane Prayer
- Help Wanted: A prayer for frustrated Catholics
- A Prayer for Thanksgiving Day
- Three Jesuit prayers for the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola
