The Original Full Version
God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
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,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
Origins of the Prayer:
It has been variously said that Reinhold Neibuhr himself denied writing it, and credited Friedrich Oetinger, an 18th century theologian, with its authorship; or that it was actually written in 500 A.D. by a philosopher named Boethius who was martyred for the Christian Faith.
Both of these theories have since been discredited, and it does now appear that the Theologian Reinhold Neibuhr was the actual author (he also did in fact claim credit for it). Niebuhr was a major influence on the German Pastor and Nazi resister, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.