When I was a kid, the Sacrament of Reconciliation was an exact science with step-by-step instructions:

You examined you conscience, you confessed mortal and venial sins in a dark little room, you were given absolution by the priest in the adjoining dark little room, and then there was some kind of penance.

There was no cold beer. And certainly no moonlight-soaked ring of smoke.

But after a talk I had with Florida Georgia Line before their “Confession” rehearsal at the recent Academy of Country Music Awards, I was reminded that not all confessions have to take place the same way. Sometimes it’s just a conversation between you and God.

“I say ‘I’m sorry’ on a daily basis,” the band’s Tyler Hubbard told me. “Nobody’s perfect. I do it every day. I don’t go to real confession, but I pray every night.”

Hubbard’s bandmate Brian Kelley agreed, telling me, “I try to stay in a constant state of prayer.”

And not only when, as the song says “life’s a little sideways,” but even when life’s perfect.

“You’ve gotta be in the moment, but if see something good, you gotta stop and pray,” Kelley said. “It’s so easy to be thankful. And then that energy just oozes out of you.”