A few years ago, I learned to distinguish between things I cannot control and things I can, then to focus on the ones I can control. A piece of that lesson came from the Serenity prayer, which follows…
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 hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
In my world there are three pieces that are a part of the equation: our circle of control, our circle of influence, and that which is beyond our control. What it boils down to is our level of responsibility.
We are responsible for acting on the things we can control. We are, to a lesser degree, held accountable for acting in a way that exerts a positive influence on a situation.
What we are not responsible for is most things, including how others act. By trying to influence things beyond our control we set ourselves up for stress. This is the lesson I am re-learning these days.
There are enough things going on in my life to make butting into other areas is foolish. Maybe that is a lesson we all need to learn.
Yancy