The very first time I heard those words I was I must admit quite amazed. I am a born and raised catholic but in all those years going to church every sunday morning (or saturday night when we couldn’t to do so the next day) I had never heard anything that beautiful.

This is not how I was planning on starting to write “My Life With An Addict”, at least not with the Serenity Prayer…

The Serenity Prayer to the catholics I guess, represent the complete denial of one self in a certain way. Whoever pronounces it, does it probably thinking “Lord, I can’t take it any longer, I beg You to take them away and deal with them” just like a magic trick. L’addict will say it with the same fervor but definitely with no hope whatsoever inside of himself.

The Serenity Prayer is said at the beginning of some meetings by the addicts in recovery or not whether they believe in God or not, this actually does not matter. I say does not matter as I am quite sure it doesn’t really. You do not have to believe in God or a god to let beautiful words and phrases come out of your mouth. However, I must admit that when I heard it for the first time, in a place where many addicts where all hanging together a part of me thought about a “strange ritual”, a kind of secte. Hearing any prayer starting with God one automatically thinks about religion. I know the prayer (the word God for instance) has put plenty of people off obviously because like me they thought straight away that the whole Serenity Prayer was only meant to be said and only said in a religious way.

This prayer is beautiful, deep and so easy to understand that I think everyone, addicts or not, believers or not should at least read it and appreciate it for what it is: beautiful hopes and thoughts put together.

I think somewhere somehow it was meant for everyone whether we are believers or not.