Good Intentions

John Hain at Pixabay

We’ve all heard the phrase, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1091–1153) is credited with the original phrase, “Hell is full of good intentions, or desires.” In 1650 John Ray recited it as a proverb. “Hell is paved with good intentions.”

St. Paul writes in Romans 7:19, “For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do.”

Sounds like good intentions to me.

We are human. We try. We fail.

God understands our failings, so won’t he also understand our good intentions? There is no shame in trying and failing, only in not trying at all. Our effort counts.

There's the difference  

Good intentions never acted upon pave the way to hell. Whereas good intentions to put into action, even if unsuccessful, lead us toward heaven. 

As Joseph T. Sullivan wrote in my morning devotion in, Good Morning, Lord, “Let me be a doer of little things, the small actions that make someone else’s day a little better, putting someone before myself.”

Those good intentions are not hard to put into actions, requiring only a few minutes of my time, and yet can mean so much more to the recipient. With practice, I might even become the doer of bigger things.

Thank you, St. Paul for your honesty. It encourages the rest of us to keep running the race with our hearts and minds focused on God and eternity rather than on our failings.