About the Sport Principle
At the London 2012 Olympics, six of Team GB’s record gold medal haul were won by less than an inch. In high-level sport, the margins for error, and, therefore, the difference between a gold and a silver, are tiny. This principle can also be seen clearly at work in sports such as international rugby union, and elite-level cycling. The sporting term that is often used here is ‘marginal gains’. David Brailsford, the mastermind behind Team GB’s cycling success with multiple victories at both the Tour de France and at Olympic level, has a very similar approach to athlete preparation to Sir Clive Woodward, England rugby union’s World Cup-winning coach from 2003: both passionately believed in marginal gains and that success was not about doing one thing 100% better, but 100 things, just 1% better. These ‘1%s’ are the inches in their respective sports.
Application to Life
This principle today is an appeal to you to find your inches in your life and your walk with God. Where do you need to make marginal gains? Seemingly, the very smallest of things can make all the difference. What are these ‘inches’, the small things that make such a big difference for you? Do you perhaps need to go to God first with your troubles, before seeking human assistance? For you, is it a case of prioritising quality time with God into your daily routine? Often, all it takes is a 1% change to your thinking. Or maybe you need to make that one-inch adjustment to align yourself with your Father in heaven, rather than being obsessed with being a people-pleaser? And what does that look like for you? Do you need to spend more time with different people at work – those who nobody else chooses to spend time with, who definitely won’t enhance your career prospects, but whom you know Jesus would gravitate towards? It’s well known that a ship that sets out just one degree off course, is hundreds of miles off by the time it gets to the other side of the ocean.
In this area, it’s often the stuff that we don’t do that is every bit as important as the stuff we do. In my experience, men rarely wake up one morning and decide that “tonight, I’m going to get into bed with a woman who isn’t my wife!” But all too often, that is what happens because we don’t take care of our inches. It’s the lingering glances, the unnecessary compliments that are nothing to do with you, and deliberately choosing to remain around the wrong company.
I often think about how it was that that lost sheep in Jesus’ parable came to be lost. Just like the man who commits adultery, it’s unlikely that any sheep thinks to himself: “I’m going to set out to get lost today.” But it happens because he sees a tasty tuft of grass, and then another, and another, and before he realises, he raises his head to find he is separated from his 99 friends. The good news is that the shepherd is already looking for him. If you’ve been neglecting your ‘inches’ recently and are feeling like the lost sheep in Jesus’ parable, then know there is forgiveness and a fresh start available to you today from the good shepherd of your soul. All you need to do is turn back to him. But then, like David Brailsford, or Clive Woodward, become ruthless with those ‘inches’ in your life that got you into the difficulty in the first place. Deal with the 1%s before a 100% shift is required!
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.”
Proverbs 6:10-11
To know the value of one inch, ask the Olympic silver medallist!
Image Credit: Patricia Serna
