Prayer for Serenity

When to Pray This Prayer

Your circumstances won't change tonight, and maybe not for a long time. You're tired of fighting that. What you need is serenity, the settled kind that doesn't depend on the outcome going your way. This prayer for serenity is for the moment you stop wrestling with what you can't control and start asking God for the wisdom to tell the difference.

The Serenity Prayer (Short Version)

The version most people know by heart is the one Alcoholics Anonymous made famous. Its core petition comes from American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, who used it in sermons from the early 1930s.

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.

The Longer Version You'll See Quoted

This longer version is the one most often reproduced today, especially in recovery circles. The extra lines came after Niebuhr's original three, and his own family disputed that he wrote them.

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 hardship 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, that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.

Who Wrote the Serenity Prayer, and Where It Came From

Reinhold Niebuhr, an American theologian and pastor, is credited with writing the Serenity Prayer sometime in the early 1930s, and he used it in sermons for years afterward. The history is a bit messier than the tidy version usually told. Quotation researcher Fred Shapiro has complicated the attribution: he identified an October 1932 diary entry by YWCA official Winnifred Wygal as the earliest known occurrence of the prayer (the entry records words Wygal attributes to Niebuhr, but Shapiro credits her with the earliest written version). And Niebuhr's own daughter, Elisabeth Sifton, has written that the added lines about "living one day at a time" don't sound like her father's usual style, suggesting they may have been shaped by others later.

What's certain is how the prayer spread. A June 1941 obituary in the New York Herald Tribune printed a version of it. A member of Alcoholics Anonymous came across that clipping, and the prayer was adopted into AA meetings, where it's still recited at the close of gatherings today. That's also how a prayer written for a Christian congregation became closely associated with 12-step recovery. Today it's attributed to Niebuhr by Alcoholics Anonymous and by most reference sources.

A Prayer for Serenity

Lord, I keep trying to fix what isn't mine to fix. I replay conversations I can't undo, worry about outcomes I can't control, and lose sleep over decisions other people have already made. Teach me to let go of what was never in my hands to begin with. Give me the serenity to release my grip on the outcome, not because I stop caring, but because I trust you with what I can't carry. And where I do have power to act, whether that's a hard conversation, a habit I need to break, or a boundary I need to set, give me the courage to actually do it instead of waiting for the feeling of readiness to arrive first. Most of all, give me wisdom. Help me stop wasting energy trying to change what's fixed, and stop excusing myself from changing what's actually within my reach. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Scripture on Serenity and Trust

On contentment in any circumstance: Philippians 4:12-13 (NIV) — "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Paul wrote this from a prison cell, not a place of comfort, which is part of what makes it credible. Serenity isn't the reward for circumstances lining up. It's a learned response that holds regardless of what's happening around you.

On asking for wisdom: James 1:5 (NIV) — "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." The line between what you can change and what you can't isn't always obvious in the moment. This verse is a direct promise that God will give you that discernment if you ask.

On trusting instead of controlling: Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) — "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Serenity gets harder the more you rely on your own read of a situation. This verse points to a different source of direction.

On peace showing up in the middle of anxiety: Psalm 94:19 (NIV) — "When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy." Serenity doesn't always arrive as the absence of anxious thoughts. Sometimes it arrives as comfort that shows up in the middle of them. If restlessness is a regular visitor for you, the prayer for anxiety and prayer for peace go deeper into that specific fight.

How to Make This Prayer Part of Your Day

• Write the short version of the Serenity Prayer somewhere you'll see it daily, your bathroom mirror, your car dashboard, your phone's lock screen wallpaper.
• When you notice yourself trying to control something outside your reach, pause and ask the two-part question the prayer teaches: can I change this, or do I need to accept it?
• Say the prayer slowly instead of reciting it from memory on autopilot. Let each line land before moving to the next.
• Pair the prayer with a specific situation you're facing right now. Naming it makes the "wisdom to know the difference" line concrete instead of abstract. If patience is the real issue underneath the restlessness, the prayer for patience pairs well with this one.

Next Steps

FaithLock puts a moment like this between you and the apps most likely to stir up comparison, outrage, or restlessness. Instead of opening straight into the scroll, you read a Bible verse and answer a short quiz question about it first, a small pause built for exactly the kind of serenity this prayer asks for.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the Serenity Prayer? Reinhold Niebuhr, an American theologian, is credited as the author, likely composing it in the early 1930s. There's some scholarly debate about how original certain lines were, but Niebuhr is the attribution used by Alcoholics Anonymous and most reference sources today.

What is the full version of the Serenity Prayer? The longer version circulating today adds several lines after the well-known opening: "Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship 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, that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next." Note that these added lines came later, likely from recovery circles rather than Niebuhr himself; his family disputed that they were his.

Is the Serenity Prayer in the Bible? No. The Serenity Prayer isn't a Bible verse; it's a prayer written by a 20th-century theologian. Its themes, accepting what you can't control, acting with courage where you can, and asking God for wisdom, echo biblical ideas found in Philippians 4 and James 1, but the prayer itself doesn't appear in Scripture.

Can Christians pray the Serenity Prayer, or is it only for recovery programs? Christians can absolutely pray it. Niebuhr wrote it as a prayer addressed to God, well before Alcoholics Anonymous adopted it in the 1940s. It's become closely associated with 12-step recovery, but its roots and language are explicitly Christian.

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Sources: BibleGateway, Reinhold Niebuhr and the Serenity Prayer, Faith Seeking Understanding, Serenity Prayer, Wikipedia