Can a Prayer be Bad?

The Lord’s Prayer, like all prayer, is part work and part rest, Perhaps the only work we do is getting ourselves there. Once we’ve gotten ourselves there—to prayer—whatever mains of productivity is God’s job.

As I recently read Mary Karr’s third memoir, Lit, was reminded that no sincere prayer could be considered bad prayer. Misguided? Yes. Self-interested? Yes. Irreverent? Absolutely. And all of these would describe Karr’s first attempts at prayer on her journey to getting sober and sane. Everyone tells her to pray, which she insists she cannot do. She doesn’t even believe in God.…