A prayer for today

God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen. —Reinhold Niebuhr via Wikipedia

Lately I have begun making it a practice to begin and end my day with the “Lord’s Prayer,” focusing specifically on these words “Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.”

It is only lately that I have realized the profound affect that acceptance can have on my own peace of mind. Things happen. The other day my son Benjamin dropped his iPad. The glass that protects the screen broke, he immediately broke into tears of pain. At that moment he was suffering loss, and in the grip of the unknown.

People I know are suffering physically, with Stage 4 cancer, with heart disease, with depression, with all kinds of physical and emotional distress. I would wish that I could control the outcome of all of these situations and “make it all better.” Raised a “fixer” my immediate response is to step into a phone booth, don my cape and tights, and go to the rescue. Whenever I can really help and things seem better, I always feel good. I love to play the hero, better yet, the super hero! I really like to assume the role of the Supreme Being.

This morning as I thought about all of these situations, I simply prayed, “Thy will be done.” God has not promised us a rose garden. That we can click our heels and that all will be well. He has promised us that he will comfort us, be with us, and see us through our trials and tribulations. And that, surprisingly, can be sufficient to see us through the storms of life.

A broken iPad is not on the same scale as open heart surgery, for example. And if you are interested, the iPad can be fixed. I am praying for peace and comfort for my dear family and friends who are walking through the valleys of life, facing the enemies of disease and loss.

May the God of comfort be near us all today.