Answered Prayer by Edgar A. Guest (1881-1959)

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~

Edgar Albert Guest was an American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century and became known as the People’s Poet. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life.