Serenity Prayer, Michael Dowd

God (Life / Reality)
Grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time.
Accepting hardship as a pathway to piece.

A friend sent this to me recently. It’s 25 minutes of Michael Dowd, a Christian minister and eco-theologian, recorded in June 2021.

Michael’s words are simple. Yet he invites attentiveness. He encourages love in action. He nudges to welcoming the mystery. Not denying what is real about now and the future. Rather dwelling in the complexity of collapse, and contributing as we can.

Michael’s focus is earth ministry and ecology, the health of the soil, and history of ecocidal patterns. He’s a weaver. I’m glad that I watched / listened.

Oh, and about that hardship. Yes, hardship is real. Yes, beware the traps of seductive hardship that makes suffering noble. And yes also, welcoming initiations that, as Stephen Jenkinson speaks, give us ability to bear weight.

Here’s to wisdom. And the awareness invited in Michael’s offering.