According to an old story attributed to Aesop, a man married off his two daughters. One married a gardener, and the other married a brick maker. The father came to visit the daughter who married a gardener. He asked how things were with her. She replied, “I am doing well, but I only wish we would have a hard rain so all my husband’s plants will be watered.” Later the man went to see the daughter who married a brick maker. He asked how things were with her. She said, “I am doing well. I can only wish for more dry weather so the sun might dry my husband’s bricks.” The father said, “If your sister wishes for rain, and you for dry weather, what do I wish for?”
Sometimes when we pray, we forget that sometimes for God to answer our prayer, he would have to deny someone else. Perhaps the best approach is to ask God for what we want and let him sort it out.