A Prayer for an Age of Extremes
by Tiffany Pardue, Retreats Director
I have been overwhelmed by the news lately.
Massacres, wars, civil wars, imminent war. The release of files implicating world and pop culture leaders. More prominent Christian leaders exposed in sin and betrayal. The polarity surrounding immigration, ICE, Israel. Unending reports of sex trafficking, gross perversions, murders. The double-talk and lack of justice — especially for children.
And beneath the headlines: traumas, griefs, pains, and uncertainties in my own life. The same for those for whom I care, and those we serve at Serenity Retreat.
As I journaled my wrestles to the Lord this week, I found myself repenting — not for caring, and not for being informed, but for overconsumption. For receiving and attempting to sift truth from a dozen voices before first being still with Him. For allowing the volume of information to reduce my ability to hear what He has to say.
I committed again to bring my thoughts and questions first to Him before diving deeper or processing with others. To remember that discernment is born not from endless input, but from intimacy.
In those moments of turning, something unexpected surfaced. The first line of the Serenity Prayer.
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.
So I looked up the prayer and read it in its entirety. Tears.
At the bottom of the page was the author’s name, Reinhold Niebuhr.
The year: 1926.
One hundred years ago.
What a decade. What a century.
Curious, I read about him and returned to the 1920s. He penned his prayer in a time described as “an age of extreme contradiction.” Unmatched prosperity and cultural advancement existed alongside intense social unrest and reaction. A decade marked by women’s suffrage and the Great Depression, that bore urbanism and modernism, as well as the Ku Klux Klan, Prohibition, nativism, and religious fundamentalism.
Extreme contradiction. Cultural advancement alongside deep corruption. Religious fervor alongside profound moral compromise.
It all sounds… familiar.
Notable reports — and notable silences — from mainstream and alternative news sources regarding everything from global trafficking rings to local and international conflicts.
Notable reports — and notable silences — from church leaders, ministries, denominational heads, and influencers regarding perversions within the Church.
Notable reports — and notable silences — from governments at every level.
Everyone seems to be pursuing a moral or religious high ground. Whether the issue is immigration, politics, scandal, or cultural upheaval, conviction is loud. Humility is rare.
Many of us are in-our-bones tired.
Rocked from the last bombs.
Weary of sorting truth from manipulation.
Grieving what has been lost or defiled.
Watching love grow cold.
Wishing those in authority would do more.
Considering what more we could have done or can do.
Angry as deception, lethargy, evil and injustice persist.
Lord, have mercy.
The full Serenity Prayer goes beyond its familiar opening. It speaks of living one day at a time. Enjoying one moment at a time. Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace. Identifying with Jesus. Trusting that God will make all things right if we surrender to His will. Then it speaks of happiness — reasonable and supreme, forever.
Just, yes… amen. Such a simple, infinitely profound prayer. And I think what I appreciate most is now knowing this prayer was forged in turbulence.
Serenity, then, is not denial, disengagement, or indifference.
Serenity is ordered trust.
It is the refusal to let darkness dictate the condition of our inner world. It’s the courage to act where God assigns responsibility, and the humility to release what He has not. It’s heavenly wisdom formed not by acquiring knowledge, but received by abiding with Him.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” —Psalm 46:10
This psalm wasn’t written in a holy vacuum. In it, the nations are raging, and kingdoms, tottering. Stillness, then, is not escapism. It’s allegiance, choosing where to anchor when the earth shakes.
And that is where I find myself in this season — anchored at Serenity, serving and healing every day. To retreat is not escape from reality, it’s returning to Truth. It’s receiving when the enemy is doing its most to take. It’s a military strategy, but I’ll save that for another time.
The world in 1926 needed this prayer, and we need it now. To mark its centennial, how about reading the Serenity Prayer aloud:
The Full Serenity Prayer
by Reinhold Niebuhr (1926)
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 hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.Amen.
Now will you join me in practicing it?
To limit our intake.
To guard our inner lives.
To endure hardship and expect happiness.
To confess where we have partnered with fear.
To acknowledge our thoughts and take them to the Lord. Feelings, too — TPM is amazing for that.
To take courage and act as He speaks.
To accept where He asks for surrender.
To trust that justice ultimately rests in His hands.
We are living in an age of extremes, also an age of invitation. Perhaps the most courageous thing is to respond and say “yes”. Yes to His leadership. His limits. His wisdom. His peace. His way.
We cannot quiet the nations, news, or naysayers, but we can quiet our souls.
And we can be happy.
Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever —Psalm 146:5-6
For help with unrest, frustration, or pain, we invite you to take time away at Serenity Retreat in Bellville, and/or a cost-free hour at a time in Transformation Prayer Ministry. Click here to schedule a session or retreat today. Be blessed!
