I am often fascinated by human behavior, including my own. It takes a lot of wisdom to discern what needs changing and what needs to stay the same (by choice or circumstance). As a Type-A, goal-oriented, driven personality, I seem to constantly be seeking to balance how to improve my life with how to contentedly enjoy my life–while accepting shortcomings and obstacles that no amount of discipline can remedy.
I’m reminded of The Serenity Prayer that my mom hung in our Roseville kitchen: “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” (Reinhold Niebuhr). We live in an uncertain world, and there are a myriad of things (internal and external) that we cannot change. I believe that the wise, fulfilled life is lived with a maximum effort to steward our time, talents and treasures while holding all things loosely. Serenity, courage and wisdom are precious virtues, and they’re three things for which I regularly pray to increase in my own life.
