2. You’ve likely seen / heard “The Serenity Prayer”
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
It was an originally untitled prayer penned by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. It was later adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-Step programs.

3. Somewhere along the way, it was altered. The extended version is:
God, grant us the... Serenity to accept things we cannot change, Courage to change the things we can, and the Wisdom to know the difference Patience for the things that take time Appreciation for all that we have, and Tolerance for those with different struggles Freedom to live beyond the limitations of our past ways, the Ability to feel your love for us and our love for each other, and the Strength to get up and try again even when we feel it is hopeless.

4. There is much and great truth expressed in this simple but profound plea.
Perhaps more than anything else, it is a request for faith and trust:
Faith in God’s way over my own, Isa.55:8-9; Jer.10:23; 1Cor.1:18ff; and
Trust in God’s willingness and ability to handle everything that is too much for me, 1Cor.10:13; 2Pet.2:9; Rom.8:26-27; Matt.6:24-32.

5. But it also includes such a critical obligation of “Christian” living:
The wisdom of “discernment”.
Discernment, both in its etymology and definition (diakrino; where dia is a primary preposition denoting the channel of an act and krino means to separate, pick, choose, or judge) , has to do with the ability to see differences- to discriminate, Matt.16:3; Jas.2:4.
The difference to which this prayer refers is centered on identifying things which we can change, and those we can’t change.
This ability is central to “Christian living”- and happiness. It is also often sadly lacking.

6. We cannot, even as faithful Christians, change:
So to this end (of Christian happy living), let’s understand a few things we cannot change:
We cannot, even as faithful Christians, change:
Some aspects of ourselves.
We cannot change our height, Matt.6:27. Obviously, we can care for and groom physical characteristics in ways to influence them, but we cannot change them permanently- high heeled shoes do not change our height, dyes do not change our hair color, etc.
The best we can do is to arrange or influence such things as best we can, and then be content. cf.1Tim.2:9-10; 1Pet.3:3-4

7. We cannot, even as faithful Christians, change:
So to this end (of Christian happy living), let’s understand a few things we cannot change:
We cannot, even as faithful Christians, change:
Some aspects of ourselves.
We cannot change our past. I am convinced that there is nothing the Apostle Paul would have preferred to change than his past, 1Cor.15:9; Peter, I am just as sure, would have loved to change some of his past also, Luke 22:60-61.
If we are at all honest and conscientious, we all have some part(s) of our past we’d like nothing better than to change- but we can’t do that. So, learn from Paul on the subject, Phil.3:1-14.

8. We cannot, even as faithful Christians, change:
So to this end (of Christian happy living), let’s understand a few things we cannot change:
We cannot, even as faithful Christians, change:
Right and Wrong.
Christians have probably spent more time and energy “fighting” to change what God determined is right and wrong than they have fighting the Roaring Lion!
While Satan can and will be defeated, the victory is never accomplished by changing the rules of combat, or declaring that he is no longer the enemy, Eph.6:10-12ff.
We cannot fight Satan and sin by endeavoring to change God’s requirements of salvation, Mk.16:15-16; or by trying to change what is and isn’t “sin” 1Cor.6:9-11; or by attempting to reorder God’s institutions, Matt.19:3-11; 1Cor.11:3; Phil.1:1.

9. There are perhaps many other things we cannot change that could be discussed,
But the bottom line is this: If we are to be both faithful to God and happy in our lives as Christians, We must learn to expend our energies on the things that we can and should change, rather than those which we cannot change. Mr. Niebuhr had it right: such is the essence of Serenity.