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"It matters a great deal who is going to win, but not at all who won"

Willie John McBride, Irish Rugby player

Principles for life

Finally. All of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 1 Peter 3:8

Peter gives his readers five principles for developing good relationships. I am sure that putting these principles into action in our own lives would be no bad thing!

Be like-minded. An alternative translation is “live in harmony”. In your church, in your team, in your training-group, there are people who are create harmony and people who create stress and disagreement. Peter is saying, “Make sure you are in the first category, not the second”.

Be sympathetic means seeing the other person’s point of view, not assuming you are right. Love one another. Loving God and loving people is at the heart of Christianity. Joe Ehrmann writes in Inside Out Coaching that a coach’s first responsibility is to love those he is coaching. Loving means wanting the best for them, putting their needs ahead of your own.

Be compassionate. So often in sport one person’s win is another’s loss. One player’s game time is another’s time on the bench. When we are being successful, we need to remember those who are disappointed and struggling.

Be humble. In my work as a sportswriter, I often speak to athletes in their moment of triumph. It is always lovely to listen to a humble athlete, not quite believing it has happened, immediately wanting to give credit to the coach, training partners etc and acknowledging opponents in a sincere way.

If we all tried to put these 5 principles into action, life would be better for those around us.

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