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Answered Prayer

I asked God for strength, that I Might achieve,
I was made weak, that I might Learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things.
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy,
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for — but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among all men, most I don't know how to say it,
but somehow it seems to me
That maybe we are stationed where God wanted us to be;
That the little place I'm filling is the reason for my birth,
And just to do the work I do He sent me down to earth.
If God had wanted otherwise,
I reckon He'd have made Me just a little different,
of a worse or better grade.
And since God knows and understands all things of land and sea,
fancy that He placed me here just where He wanted me. Sometimes I get to thinking, as my labors review,
That I should like a higher place with greater tasks to do;
But I come to the conclusion, when envying is stilled, That the post to which God sent me is the post He wanted filled.
So I plod along and struggle in the hope when day is through
That I'm really necessary to the things God wants to do.
For there isn't any service I can give which I should scorn, For it may be just the reason God allowed me to be born. 

Edgar A. Guest