The Anxiety Prayer

The Anxiety Prayer

God grant me anxiety and worry,
So that I can fret about things just out of my reach,
And neglect the things you've given me.
I pray I would learn to confuse what's mine to do and what's yours.
Allow me to live in the future; ignoring the present and its treasure.
You know I won't enjoy anything till I have everything I want.
Please remove all my hardships so I can finally have peace.
I pray that everyone will see it my way and everything will go my way.
We've been over this before God—you know things won't work out unless you do it my way; unless you listen to me carefully.
You know I'm miserable and probably always will be.
If anybody will be unhappy in the next life, it'll probably be me.
I knew it—worry forever, it's my lot.

Now let's look at another prayer - thankfully a more useful and meaningful prayer that leads us to practice the presence of God...

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; That I may be reasonably happy in this life And supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.

This prayer is attributed to theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in 1934...in a sermon.