Do not pray for easy lives

Do not pray for easy lives,
but pray to be stronger men.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers,
but pray for power equal to your tasks.

Then the accomplishing of your work
shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle.
Every day you shall wonder at yourself
and the richness of life
which has come to you
by the grace of God.

—The Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)