Poetry: Unwise Prayer

I asked my God that He would give success
To the high task I sought for Him to do.
I asked that every hindrance might grow less,
And that my hours of weakness might be few.|
I asked that far and lofty heights be scaled,
And now I humbly thank Him that I failed.

For with the pain and sorrow came to me
An hour of tenderness of act and thought.
And with the pain there came a sympathy,
An insight which success could ne’er have brought.
"Father, I’d have been foolish and unblessed,
If Thou hadst granted me my blind request."

Anon