"How did you do it, Dad? How have you managed to not
take a drink for almost 20 years?" It took me almost
20
years to have the courage to even ask my father this
very
personal question. When Dad first quit drinking, the
whole
family was on pins and needles every time he got into
a
situation that, in the past, would have started him
drinking
again. For a few years we were afraid to bring it up
for
fear the drinking would begin again.
"I had this little poem that I would recite to myself
at least four to five times a day," was Dad's reply to
my
18-year-old unasked question. "The words were an
instant
relief and constant reminder to me that things were
never so
tough that I could not handle them," Dad said. And
then he
shared the poem with me. The poem's simple, yet
profound
words immediately became part of my daily routine as
well.
About a month after this talk with my father, I
received a gift in the mail from a friend of mine. It
was a
book of daily affirmations with one affirmation listed
for
each day of the year.
It has been my experience that when you get something
with days of the year on it, you automatically turn to
the
page that lists your own birthday.
I hurriedly opened the book to November 10 to see what
words of wisdom this book had in store for me. I did a
double-take and tears of disbelief and appreciation
rolled
down my face. There, on my birthday, was the exact
same poem
that had helped my father for all these years! It is
called
the Serenity Prayer:
God, grant me
the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
the Courage to change the things I can; and
the Wisdom to know the difference.
