<P> The earliest recorded reference to the prayer is a diary entry from 1932 by Winnifred Crane Wygal, a pupil and collaborator of Reinhold Niebuhr, quoting the prayer and attributing it to Niebuhr . Several versions of the prayer then appeared in newspaper articles in the early 1930s written by, or reporting on talks given by, Wygal . In 1940, Wygal included the following form of the prayer in a book on worship, attributing it to Niebuhr: </P> <P> O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other . </P> <P> Wygal was a longtime YWCA official and all early recorded usages were from women involved in volunteer or educational activities connected to the YWCA . </P> <P> The earliest printed reference, in 1936, mentions that during a speech, a Miss Mildred Pinkerton "quotes the prayer," as if to indicate it was already in a circulation known to the reporter, or that Pinkerton relayed it as a quote, without mentioning its authorship . A 1937 Christian student publication attributed the prayer to Niebuhr in the following form, which matches the other earliest published forms in requesting "courage to change" before petitioning for serenity: </P>

Lord help me see the things i cannot change