For you heard about
our way of life,
formerly in Jewishness
that
I was intensively persecuting
the Church of God
and I was ravaging it,
and I was advancing in Judaism,
beyond many peers,
among my people,
more (than them)
a zealot for my ancestral traditions.
When he (God)
who having selected me from my mother’s womb,
and called (me), through his grace,
was pleased to unveil his son in me,
in order that I might preach him amongst the pagan nations,
immediately
I did not consult with flesh and blood,
nor did I go up
to Jerusalem, to those who were apostles before me,
but I went into Arabia, and
I returned again to Damascus.
God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
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 in the next.
Amen.