Serenity Prayer II

(found in Trinity Church of Braunlage, Germany, in July 2008)

"LORD, YOU know better than me, that I grow older,

and will be old after a while.

Save me from becoming talkative

or from even thinking, I should utter something on every occasion

and on every subject.

Release me from the urge to bring in order

everybody’s business.

Free my speech from unnecessary enumerations of

endless details, and endow me with the gift to come to an end.

Give me the patience

to listen to other people‘s complaints about their sorrows.

Help me to give attention to them and to show sympathy,

but close my lips towards my own troubles and pains.

These will grow with the years, together with

the inclination to talk about them.

Give me the valuable insight

that it might happen occasionally

that I am wrong.

Keep me obliging and friendly.

I do not want at all to become a woman saint;

because these are often hard to bear for others.

But the worst plague are embittered old people.

Make me thoughtful but not moody,

helpful, but not overbearing.

Often it is hard not to be able to share

my wisdom with everybody -

but YOU, LORD, know

that I would like to keep some friends

till my end."

(Unknown author. Original in German.)