Karen’s Reviews > Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart > Status Update

You can always have your way if you have enough ways.

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…living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; taking this world as it is and not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to your will; so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever…

The ultimate thing we cannot control is…life. The ultimate addiction is to our own capacity to control…uncertainty, impermanence, and powerlessness-lie at the heart of this collective…moment. We cannot know (uncertainty) or control (powerlessness) our world, because it is inherently relational and in flux (impermanence)…it is when we can be at ease with uncertainty…accept powerlessness, we become free.

The bible…is the concentrated residue of many generations of indigenous wisdom, laid down in the genres of story, poetry, law, proverb, and prophecy, augmented by gospel and epistle…the bible has been exploited to make certain people a lot of money and bestow upon them a lot of power to do a lot of harm.

When our prime motive is love, a different logic comes into play. We find courage and confidence, not in the likelihood of a good outcome, but in our commitment to love.

“When I criticize the system, they think I criticize them-and that is of course because they fully accept the system and identity themselves with it.” Thomas Merton

“Grief is the counter to denial.” Walter Brueggemann