Serenity Series Part I

Serenity Series Part I: Serenity to Accept

Welcome to the beginning of my new short series, The Serenity Series. I am excited to be sharing this important series with you and hope that you will not only like but share this information with others!

God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change,
the courage to change the things we can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

When you are grieving the final step is acceptance. Acceptance is a willingness to tolerate a difficult or unpleasant situation. To me, acceptance always seemed like a state of compliance, and compliance seemed like a state of giving up. However, I have come to understand that acceptance comes in the form of simply accepting the process.

For every outcome, there is a process, and I found myself in a season of serenity. This is my serene season because I am constantly in a state where I am not certain what tomorrow will bring, and that all I can really do is accept today. Accept that no matter what happens I have to accept today for what it is. Some days are easier than others, and other days tend to be harder.

But what is serenity, what does it mean to be in a season of serenity? Serenity is defined as, “the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.” In no way is my life untroubled, but I have chosen to approach each day and each new set of troubles with calm, and peace.

I decided to start this series because it is something that has not only been a challenge for me but I know that it has to be a change for others. I cannot speak to everyone’s situation, I am not a professional on this topic but I have the experience of going through it, the hope and desire to find myself on the other side a better person for going through it.

This season of serenity has presented itself to me in four parts, similar to the prayer, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” It is interesting because the day after my mother passed I came across a photo of her wearing a sweater that says that exact prayer and it has since served as a reminder of how she lived her life, and how I know I need to live my life moving forward without her. 

I have found that you can learn so much about yourself, life, and others through loss, and writing has become my biggest tool to navigating through the lessons, and the revelations that God is presenting me with on a daily basis.

I look at my life with three principles, approach each day with calmness, and most of that comes from daily time spent alone, either praying, reflecting or meditating but I believe each day needs that time. My mother used to wake up before everyone else did in our house, she would make herself breakfast, tea, and sit down at the dinner table and write out her prayers she did this each day. I spend time praying at night, I am a night owl, that is when I spend my time writing.

The second is approaching everything with peace. If I find that there is a person or situation that does not bring me peace then I have to move on. The same thing goes for work if it is a situation that I have prayed about and still I cannot find peace then I know I need to move on. I have spent so much time in situations where I had no peace, I could not sleep, eat, concentrate on anything. If you feel like you are forcing things to happen, or you are forcing relationships, forcing yourself to go to work each day you are not at peace.

“Let us, therefore, make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” ~Romans 14:19

Each day, make an effort to live in peace, if nothing else is accomplished in my day I feel good when I get ready to sleep at night and I fall asleep soundly, that is my measure of peace. Too many nights of thinking and tossing and turning means I need to determine what has disrupted my peace. To me, peace is what heals us.

The third thing is to be untroubled about trouble. Now, how difficult is it to be untroubled about trouble. Trouble is troubling! It shakes up your life and shakes up everything you have planned, dreams, wishes and aspirations are all shaken up by trouble. The answer is learning how to roll with the trouble that comes and does not let it shake you up so much that you come completely off course. To be untroubled is to handle change as it comes and make the adjustments and keep going. I use a reference from a children’s movie, Meet The Robinsons and the main lesson in that movie was no matter what comes, trouble, unexpected or expected trouble will come but keep moving forward. Always look ahead, and never give up. My mother’s words were always, “don’t take no for an answer.” Keep going, never give up!

//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=everythi050e8-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B003RY9TVW&asins=B003RY9TVW&linkId=d12b39ff96ba3b51b9101781b74f1424&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=false&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff“>Complete Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.
Amen.