A farmer who was a very devout man, and who had never missed a holy day at church, became trapped at home by a raging snow storm. Unfortunately this took place on an especially important holiday. No matter how hard the farmer tried he couldn’t travel the roads, as they were all impassable.
The next day arriving at church he told the priest that the evening before, not being a learned man, and not remembering which prayers were the right ones, he had gotten down on his knees and recited the alphabet over and over, asking God to put the letters in the right order.
“Were my prayers valid, or did I sin,” he asked the priest. “Not only did you not sin,” the priest replied, “but last night your prayers were more sincere than mine.”