Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." Galatians 4:6
One of my abiding memories of the sports year 2007 was Padraig Harrington’s Open Championship win. For those of you who are not familiar with the circumstances, Harrington was in command of the golf tournament, certain to win, when he reached the final hole. He then hit his ball into water with successive shots and seemed to have blown his chances. In the end he finished joint first and won the play-off.
As Harrington walked of the final hole in despair, thinking he had blown his chance to win, his young son came running over to him, Harrington picked him up and hugged him. Afterwards he said that the encounter had helped him get life in perspective: “My son didn’t care if I won or lost. I was still his daddy and he wanted to hug me”.
Harrington was winning his first major before a global TV audience of millions but in that moment he was focused on an audience of one – his young son who loved him unconditionally. What a picture of God who loves us when we win or when we lose, when we place with grace and when we don’t.
As we play our sport, we need to keep reminding ourselves that our identity is not in our success or our performance but in who we are as people, made in the image of the God, who loves us just as we are.
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