"Try Try Again"

Try, Try Again

by Jennifer Revill

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Tis a lesson you should heed,

Try, try again;

If at first you don't succeed,

Try, try again;

Then your courage should appear,

For if you will persevere,

You will conquer, never fear;

Try, try again. –William Edward Hickson, 1840

Trying anything is the only possible way to succeed at it. But trying also invites the possibility of failing. Life continually asks us do things we think we cannot do. We pause in those moments, wondering how to begin. What will be the outcome? Glory and pride, or unraveling and disappointment?

And trying AGAIN is even riskier, with more than just success and failure on the line; trying again demands faith in yourself.

Spiritual directees may share such moments with you during the spiritual direction session. Many of us can remember conversations we have had with a directee who was deciding to try something new, or to start over. Trying again for a baby after pregnancy loss. Trying to leave a toxic job, or to restore our once-good health. Trying to find fulfillment in our relationship with God.

Spiritual directors can support our companions in their trepidation. We can also cheer their courage as they ready themselves to do “the thing they think they cannot do.” In the safe space of caring and respect that the director creates, the directee may speak openly about the struggle to begin again—whether it's in their faith life, in a relationship, or elsewhere in the complex truths of their life. By our very presence, we say: “I honor you for questioning old beliefs that once held you hostage to doubt.” We say: “When you offer yourself fully, something always shifts. Maybe not in the ways you imagined, but in ways that matter.”

We can also suggest silence, breathwork, or contemplative prayer as helpful tools. We can help them discern whether their need to move forward is coming from ego, fear, love, or the Spirit. We may ask the sacred question, “Where do you sense God in the desire to try again?”

Perhaps the most precious thing we can do is guide the directee toward a recognition of grace—those small signs of divine presence in the midst of failure, fatigue, or discouragement. We can ask, ““What is stirring in your spirit when you sit with the idea of starting anew?” We can affirm that a longing to try again can be a sacred opportunity.

Trying again can be the soul’s quiet “yes” to life and to God. A good spiritual director holds that yes with reverence, and offers a gentle reminder that there is time, there is always time, to continue to discern the right path.

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A Prayer for Trying Again

God of second chances,

and third, and seventieth—

You who breathe life into dry bones

and call dormant seeds to sprout—

I come to You with hands that tremble

and a heart both weary and hopeful.

I have known the weight of failure,

the sting of regret,

the silence that follows disappointment.

And still, something within me whispers:

"Try again."

Is that You, God?

In the quiet urging?

Meet me here—

in the uncertainty,

on the holy ground of beginning once more.

Bless this new beginning.

Even if small. Even if slow.

Let each step forward be

a whispered yes to grace,

a quiet trust in Your unfolding.

Amen.

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