The Deeper Meaning of Serenity

Do you know “The Serenity Prayer”? I think most people have read at least the first stanza somewhere at some point in their lives. Attributed to Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, a German-American theologian (1892-1971), the prayer is still common today yet also set apart because its words are profound.

One of the dictionary definitions of serenity is the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled. This while walking over uneven landscapes, through difficult treks. That’s the theme for the “The Serenity Prayer”. At the heart, it’s finding and keeping peace regardless of what’s happening around us, through us, to us… or even because of us. Having peace in any circumstance. It’s about grace. In fact, last night I had a dream where someone was reciting “The Serenity Prayer” and when I awoke in the night, the Lord said those words: It’s about grace.

 

My beloved mother was the real deal when it came to the Fruit of the Spirit. She walked it every day, and when she wasn’t walking, she prayed—a prayer warrior with calluses on her knees, for that’s how she most went before the Lord. For a gift one Mother’s Day, my two sisters and I had engraved “Mother” with “Galatians 5:22-23” (Fruit of the Spirit) on the back of a silver Hamsa pendant. A Hamsa is also called the Hand of Miriam, and is not meant to be a talisman, but a reminder that God is with you and will protect you. The one we got for her had a gold heart in the center, because it’s wished that God first protect the heart. After she passed away my two older sisters allowed me the privilege to wear the necklace, so now it also reminds me of her, and of the Fruit of the Spirit:

 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

 

I once heard a sermon on the difference between the Fruit of the Spirit and the Gifts of Spirit (1 Corinthians 12) that made sense. The Fruit of the Spirit is the internal workings of the Holy Spirit in your life, while the Gifts of the Spirit is the external workings of the Holy Spirit. The external workings being the Word of Knowledge, Wisdom, Gift of Faith, Healing, Working of Miracles, Prophecy, Discernment, Speaking in Tongues, and Interpreting tongues. I think it’s important not to focus as much on the external workings, because I believe they will come if we focus first on God. And when we focus first on God, having submitted to him, the first thing he does is lead us to clean up and work on the internal parts, beginning with love.

 

1 Corinthians 13:1 puts it into perspective: “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”

 

Again, we begin with grace.

 

My beautiful little Yiddishe momme, as well as my earthly sage-like father, both came from childhood sadness. Due to the source of that sadness, I never knew either my maternal or paternal grandparents. My parents started life on rough roads, from their formative years. They knew rejection, persecution, and rootlessness, yet they each managed, by God’s grace, to not only survive but become living examples of having peace, being untroubled, and fully trusting God and accepting his son Yeshua. Grace, peace, serenity… they’re not circumstantial.

 

Once my mother told me: “Tessaleh, God must be calling you to something requiring a lot of tenacity because of what he has already led you through.” That coming from my mom with her background spoke sobering volumes. At the time, I was already serving as a global missionary, and I also worked in human rights, so I was familiar with faith and/or ethnic persecution. So when she said that, I prayerfully thought, Maybe I’m going to be one of the tortured for Christ…  Now that I’m where I am decades later, I realize it’s just life, and likely my own choices in life. Life in general requires tenacity. Maybe this was my team’s-fulfilled prophecy because from the get-go they called me “Tenacious Tessa”, I don’t know. I’m smallish, weird, and socially reticent—but I do have grit. Sometimes to a fault. Sometimes you need to know when to quit. I’m still working on that among other things.

 

There are many, I think, who tend to believe that if they had a better job then they’d have peace; if they had a kinder marriage or easier relationships then they’d have peace; if they had more money then they’d have peace. Etcetera. But peace isn’t about any of those things, the things that are fleeting. With the serenity that Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr describes in his poetic prayer, it means realizing things aren’t perfect and still abiding in the recognition of grace. This by default gives you a better outlook. Suddenly, you’re thankful to even have a job, more patient or compassionate with someone who is challenged or abrasive; you’re grateful that you’re not controlled by money. You don't take things for granted and you value having even clean water or a simple meal for the day.

 

God has given his benevolent and merciful love toward humanity. He’s given undeserved favor to us who are unworthy. He gave his very own Son a death sentence in order that we can receive the life sentence to glory. That’s grace.

 

“Give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). 

In everything, including the hardships.

If Yeshua, who came as a man and walked the imperfect and suffering earth, could do it, that is, bear burdens and exemplify serenity, then he who has gone before you has given you the ability to do that, too. For he said in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you…”

 

When you truly realize his grace is all you need, there you have serenity.