You may already have seen this, but it is worth another look--Ben Stein's farewell to Morton's.
(While you're at it, have a look at The Problem in Our Lives Is Powerlessness--the Solution Is Also Powerlessness. Another wonderful column. Were they not under copyright, I'd copy them out and keep them here forever. As it is, I have only the links, and I hope they last a while. A soupçon:
6. My greatest power comes from my surrender to God's will every moment of every day.
7. Fear is the common human condition. The only solution that lasts is faith in God.
8. What happens to me is not terribly important.
9. I cannot control other people, and when I try, it leads to disaster.
10. Acceptance of God's will is my only option today. It is not a choice but a necessity. )
I have long been a fan of Ben Stein's essays and his "diary" in the American Spectator. He seems, at least to me, to have become more devout in the last year or so. Perhaps I've just become more sensitive to it.
His writings about the deaths of his father and his father-in-law were classics.
That said, I need to remember 9 & 10. Perhaps stapling them to my forhead would be an option....