“19. That person does not deserve to be called a theologian who looks upon the invisible things of God as though they were clearly perceptible in those things which have actually happened [Rom. 1:20].
“20. He deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.
“21. A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is … [or in some translations, 'says that a thing is what it is.']
The Full Original Copy of the Serenity Prayer
by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
God give us 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.
4. Further reading: Byron Katie, 'Loving What Is.'
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