Discipline a Blessing

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Some prayers Christ does not answer, we may say, because they ask Him to do our work for us. Tell me, is there a kinder thing that you can do for your pupil who comes up to you with his slate,
asking you to work out for him his problem, than to bid him go back to his seat and do his task himself, and get that discipline and learning which is really the object of his having his task set to him at all? You ask Christ to show you with a flash of lightning what your sorrow means. You ask Him to reveal to you by some supernatural illumination which path of life you ought to take, which friendship you shall cultivate, what profession you can most successfully pursue. There comes no answer to those prayers. And why? Those are your problems. It is by hard work of yours, by watchful vigilance, by careful weighing of consideration against consideration, that you must settle those things for yourself.

—Phillips Brooks

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