I just listened to the new Boruch Levine CD and one of the songs has the coolest message...
The song is about a shnorer who decides to become a fake Rebbe so that people will donate to him in return for his giving them a bracha. The plan works out fabulous. He rakes in the money as a real crook... One day, a mother comes in and cries to him that her daughter is dying, and she begs him to pray for her. He realizes that this woman is depending on him and he goes into a locked room and begins crying to Hashem. He says: "Hashem, I know I'm a crook and I don't have the merit to save this girl, but this mother is depending on me through her simple faith in Tzadikim. I know that only You, Hashem, can do this. So please listen to my tears and heal this innocent girl."
The girl is miraculously healed, and the song ends with the words:
A lesson we can learn from this, the lesson rings so true,
the essence of a prayer's weighed by what's inside of you.
The tears we shed are always there - a little or a lot,
though at times we may pretend to be someone who we're not.
How amazing are those last 2 lines! I've thought like that so many times! I'd act out and then cry my eyes out during Mincha. And I would think to myself, "you're such a hypocrite! Now you cry to Hashem after you just did THAT?". But this story clearly shows us the power of a sincere Tefilla at anytime, from anyone!