“God knows I’ve failed, but he knows that I have tried” I love these words from the Passenger song Feather on the Clyde. They remind me that even when we fail there is an epic and valiant effort filled with passion and determination lurking in the intention we had when we started whatever we failed to achieve. The failure began in hope, in trying. I love that. I especially love it at this time of year when already many of us have failed to uphold our New Year’s resolutions. We have likely had a sneaky coffee that scuppered our detox plans or said “oh it’s too cold (or hot if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere) to go for a run”.
We have all failed, sometimes in small way, sometimes catastrophically. But we have also all tried. The sad thing is that we are very good at remembering our failures – in vivid and dramatic detail. But we always forget the wonderful hopeful intention that started the action we began but later failed. We intended something good, something better, something else – the fact that we failed doesn’t change the original intention. It just means that we didn’t achieve a perfect execution of the intention.
So in 2014 my resolution is to remember and hold onto my intentions – the tries. I am going to document every time I have tried and beside it write down what my intention was when I started. I will remember I have failed, so there will be no need to document that in writing. At the end of 2014 I will have a list of all my good intentions for the year, I will remember the good will and positive energy I had in my year, even if it lasted only briefly. I will remember that I tried. I’m not religious but if I was I love the idea that God isn’t documenting our failures, he documents when we have tried.
Feather on the Clyde by Passenger
“Well I would swim but the river is so wide
And I’m scared I won’t make it to the other side
Well god knows I’ve failed but he knows that I’ve tried”
The burden of wings 