I stole my blog title from a quote by Reinhold Niebuhr (thought by many to be the originator of the Serenity Prayer).  Love often requires the forgiveness of small and large offenses, which is probably why so many songs have been written about the subject.

An excellent newer song about forgiveness and redemption is Brandi Carlisle’s That Wasn’t Me.  It’s an amazing song in which the narrator expresses regret, remorse, and resolve in under three minutes.  Once again, the heart-wrenching lyrics jump off the page.  The second verse is probably my favorite, but I also love the line from the first verse, “To be wrong all along and admit it, is not amazing grace.”  A lot of people may think ‘owning’ their mistake makes them special.  In a world where many habitually place blame on others, perhaps those who admit to errors are special.  To me, however, that admission is simply the necessary first step to atonement.

That Wasn’t Me

Hang on, just hang on for a minute,
I’ve got something to say.
I’m not asking you to move on or forget it,
But these are better days.
To be wrong all along and admit it
is not amazing grace.
But to be loved like a song you remember
Even when you’ve changed.

Tell me

Did I go on a tangent?
Did I lie through my teeth?
Did I cause you to stumble on your feet?
Did I bring shame on my family?
Did it show when I was weak?
Whatever you see, that wasn’t me
That wasn’t me, that wasn’t me

When you’re lost,
you will toss every lucky coin you’ll ever trust.
And you will hide from every god
like he never turns his back on us.
And you will fall all the way to the bottom
and fall on your own knife.
But you’ll learn who you are even if it
doesn’t take your life.

[Refrain]

But I want you to know
that you’ll never alone.
I wanna believe.

Do I make myself a blessing to everyone I meet?
When you fall I will get you on your feet.
Do I spend time with my family?
Did it show when I was weak?
When that’s what you see, that will be me.
That will be me, that will be me,
That will be me.

This song actually inspired one of the emotional themes in my current work in progress.  My newest hero nearly severs all of the important relationships in his life due to his inability to forgive.  When he suddenly finds himself needing pardon, he must reexamine his own outlook on love and forgiveness.  But enough about my writing, let’s listen to this fantastic song:

What do you think?

xo-jamie