Serenity, Courage and Wisdom

God grant me the serenity to accept the thing that I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can and the wisdom to know the difference.......Anxiety is the opposite of grace.....I think that if I had to pick 2 prayers or phrases that I most often turn to in times of stress, confusion, frustration, embarrassment, disappointment, lack of understanding, regret [which I guess despite my fervent claims that I do not regret things, if I am truly honest with myself, there are things that I regret. I just am grateful for the lessons learnt because of the choices made, which is an entirely different thing.....back on task!] it would be those two things. My grandmother had a stained glass triptych-like thing that was in her bathroom that had the first prayer on it. You see, her husband was an alcoholic and from what she told us that was one of the prayers that her in the support program. It was perfect because the first panel was this beautiful image of a dove kissing the golden letters of "God" that are surrounded by warm blue glass, making a rich juxtaposition of light, dark, warmth, cool and all very simple. The next panel has, you guessed it, the word "courage" made from red glass fortified with a structure [that never made sense to me] but the overall feeling was that of true ability to accomplish that which needed to be done. And the final panel was written in script, clear glass with blue? Maybe it had once been black but being in the sun turned it blue, but it was lightly written while also being very purposeful and beautiful: Wisdom to know the difference.

Today "help us to set our affections on things above, not on the passing vanities of this world" really stuck out to me. Vainly, [har har, get it?] I have never really thought that I had difficulty focusing my eyes on God, but in truth my affections are not always properly positioned. I wish I could take that triptych with me wherever I went. I honestly don't know where it went---my grandmother's house burned down two December's ago and I believe that it was there [where else would it have been?]. But even without it, that image, those words, they make me stop in my tracks. Close my eyes. Refocus my thoughts on where they should be: things above.