Serenity Shelf

The Serenity Shelf consists of the nine tenets of the Serenity Prayer, which is most widely known and recited using the first three; serenity, courage, and wisdom. Lesser known are; living, enjoying, accepting, taking, trusting, and being.

 This piece was started in 2012 and took three years to complete. I kept track of work hours and logged 701 hours, 15 minutes. Countless untracked prior hours (possibly another 120 hours) were put into the construction of the wet- and needle- felted shelf-over-plastic-canvas before the needle-felted figural tenets were started.

Serenity Prayer (edited)
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

Grant me the Serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
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 hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, this world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that all things will be made right
if I surrender to the no escape;
that I may Be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy
forever in the next.  

The piece reflects my inside thought process of Ike’s illness, from diagnosis to death, and the subsequent intense grief and growth in learning to live and laugh again. The juxtaposition of the serious and sad sides was part of the hours of needle jabbing that ended in what appears to be a very playful, joyful and happy piece. There is an inside and flip side to each of the serenity tenets, from abject rejection of what is happening to peaceful acceptance. The peaceful acceptance was the most difficult for me. In it all is the concept that, “At some point you have to choose how you’re going to live and what you’re going to accept.” I arrived at peace with kind and gentle palliative care given in the comfort of living in our home, and being grateful for the peaceful contentment in each day.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

I am as serene as when eating strawberry pie. Or I am uptight and anything but.

courage to change the things I can;

I am calm and courageous. I am scared out of my wits.

and wisdom to know the difference.

Sometimes I feel wise and full of answers, other times I have none.

Living one day at a time;

Ahh, to live fully and in plumb each day. Or to be convinced that it is not possible.

enjoying one moment at a time;

To truly be in and enjoy the moment, each and every moment of the day.  

Or to be hobbled and hamstrung with the attachments and the busyness that we put into everyday.

accepting hardship as the pathway to peace;

This, the most difficult one for me to reconcile. But peace is possible, and often this is the only way.

Taking this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;

Perhaps we don’t ever have the choice. We must drink from the cup that is given. 

Trusting that all things will be made right if I surrender to .  .  what I need to.

There’s a hole in the bucket of trust, until we can get into true acceptance and take what is offered.