Runners race to
compete for the prize.
(First Corinthians 9:24)
Dear Anna,
What a joy it was for Grammy and me to watch you compete in the U.S.A. Water Polo Junior Olympics. And, what a venue: Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center. I felt smarter just being on campus. I’m so happy you will continue your water polo competition at Connecticut College. Great colleges honor sport competition. You can’t exercise the mind apart from the body. That is why we believe in a bodily resurrection. Without our bodies we are not us.
Jesus teaches us to “Love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength.” “Heart” and “soul” speak of something interior while “mind” and “strength” speak of our exterior endeavors. Jesus affirms that we are mind and body. When you play to win the prize; you put all your strength into it. College, at its best, develops strength of both mind and body.
Maybe best of all, by playing water polo you learn to be a part of a team where you experience that unique comradery of striving together to win the prize. Chance are, some of your team mates will become friends for life. When you are as old as I, you will sit around and talk about the elation of winning and the pain of losing. That too is sports’ great lesson—how to win and how to lose. We win as team and we lose as a team. In winning we acknowledge the part others played; and, when we lose, we honor the other team and show up for practice the next day to see if we can’t do better next time. That’s life.
Love, Papa
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