Sometimes reflecting on the world’s sorrows breaks my heart. Political and societal strife sets my teeth on edge. Economic distress, environmental disasters, wars and rumors of war–there appears no shortage of woes. Finding serenity seems difficult, if not impossible. Perhaps you share my quest for peace of mind. Here’s what I’ve discovered on my journey into a quiet life.
I remind myself that I can’t change everything. All I can do is my own part, and trust God for the rest. A famous prayer, which may or may not have been written by St. Francis of Assisi, comes to mind.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.Credited to St. Francis of Assisi.
I don’t know about you, but my idea of living in peace involves a placid lake, flames leaping in the fireplace, a good book, and perhaps a pause for quiet reflection—things like that. Returning love for hatred and forgiveness for injury doesn’t enter the picture. Neither does challenging my doubts, exchanging despair for hope, or relieving suffering. But there’s a deep truth here. When I forget myself and reach out to others, my own troubles slide into perspective.
Given its title, the Serenity Prayer ought to shed light on our topic:
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.
Attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr
Acceptance, courage, wisdom and faith all play a part in finding serenity in this poem. I’m catching on here. There’s so much sense to the idea of living in the moment. Why stress about what I can’t change? It’s better to spend that energy on stepping up to make the world better, even if only in small ways.
A plaque once adorned my father’s office but now sits outside my own. A golden candle stands out against a wooden background. Emblazoned beneath it are the words: “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”
Yes!
Thinking only of today—now—this minute, makes it mighty hard to worry about what tomorrow will bring. This reminds me of something Jesus said: “T ake therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:34 KJV).
Whenever evil threatened Shae, heroine of my medieval epic fantasy, Tales of Faeraven, she sought sanctuary within a chapel. When a perilous journey deprived her of this way of finding serenity, she learned that the best “place of prayer” lay within her own soul. The idea of finding peace inside yourself is not new. It has been around for a long while, in fact. That’s probably because it works.
