The earliest written reference to the Serenity prayer dates to 1932 in a diary entry by Winnifred Crane Wygal. While the most popular version of the prayer, it is a truncation of Niebuhr’s original. “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.” Most people are familiar with the common form of the prayer, which reads as follows: The modern version is attributed to the American theologist, Reinhold Neibuhr, but it is possibly based on a series of sayings dating back to ancient times. Today, the prayer is utilized as a catch-all saying, but is heavily used by 12-step and other recovery groups to incentivize personal responsibility and calm in the face of adversity.
The Serenity Prayer is a prayer that has become common knowledge through its use by Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs, as well as in popular media.
