Video Transcript: Phrase Two
All right, here we go. The second phrase of the serenity prayer. Here it is, phrase two the courage to change the things I can. So in the first phrase, we said, there, there are things that I can't do anything about it. I have to accept those and trust that God can take care of these. The second phrase is sort of the those things that that, that maybe I can do something about the courage to change the things that I can Philippians 4:13 This is one of my favorite verses, I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. That's interesting. The context of this verse is Paul, saying, you know, I've learned to be in Hunger, you know, in want.. I've learned to be well fed. I've learned, you know, in the good times, and the bad times that that, that, you know, life can be filled with hurtful things. And chaotic things in life can be filled with great things. And I've learned how to be content in all those circumstances. And then, at the end, he says, I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. The context is I can do I can I can somehow survive these difficult things, and maybe do something about them with the strength that God provides. What's difficult to know is, when is it a thing that I can do something about the situation when, when is it not? Another verse? Joshua 1:9, so Moses, is sort of handing over the reins to Joshua. And he does so with these words, Be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous gonna take strength and courage to lead these people do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Now, why is Moses saying this to Joshua? Because Moses knows, discouraging times are ahead. And there are going to be situations where the natural response would be fear. You can see the context of the situation here. But by the things that Moses brings up, be strong, because you know what, you're gonna feel weak. Be courageous, because that's what it's gonna take to lead these people because you're not the natural response is to turn and run the other way. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged for the Lord will be with you where ever you go. the courage to do something about the things that I can. I think you know when Reinhold Niebuhr wrote these, thinking about how easy it is, for us to just throw up our hands. When life is hard, it's easier to worry, or complain about the things that are coming into our lives than to actually do something about it.. I mean, if you think about the context of your friends and people that you spend a lot of time with talking, how much of that time is not just worrying and complaining? How much of that time is planning about doing something about the situation that is in front of you now, why don't we do? Why do we resort to complaint and worry? Because I think number one, the fear of failure. I mean, if, if I'm faced with a difficult situation, let's say I'm in a marriage situation, or I'm in a work situation, and my boss is, you know, making things difficult. It's easy for me to just go with someone and complain about my boss, or complain about my marriage or complain about my children. It takes courage to say I want to do something about it, because what are you going to do? Well, maybe I'm gonna talk to the boss. Well see now talking to the boss about our problem, that you have with a boss. You know, how well is that going
to go? Who knows? Who knows what you you might lose your job. You might make your marriage worse. You might create conflict with your children. So the easiest thing is just complain. Or to just silently worry about these things it takes courage to step out and say I want to do something about it because we don't always know whether what we're going to do is going to work or not. Courage. Alright, so that's the second phrase. And we'll come back to the next session on the third phrase