Mark Pritchard, Director
Northwest Center for Sport Business
College of Business, Central Washington University
[Oct. 26, 2009] —
Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go onto victories you never dreamed of.
CS Lewis, Mere Christianity
“So, how does loyalty and commitment sound?” my advisor asked. We were in the midst of our weekly Friday doctoral research meeting, and I was one of two candidates ready to select our dissertation topics. “Sounds good,” I responded. Although not gushing with enthusiasm, I did feel a curious stirring. Looking back, I realize the subject was something for which I had been prepared (Eph 2:10).
Tony Waters
Truth be known, years before my father Phil had primed me with stories of dedication and commitment. One of his favorite films, Chariots of Fire, depicts Eric Liddell’s stand during the 1924 Olympics. A further story he shared was of another “hard-headed” Scotsman, Tony Waters, who tended goal for several Australian Olympic field hockey teams. Tony and my father had been teammates.
In one match, my father recounted, a sprinting center-forward broke through unmanned into the goal circle. Tony crouched at the ready, but at point blank range the forward struck a brutal undercut that rose sharply toward the upper corner of the goal.
Tony didn’t have time to lift his stick or glove but instinctively dove forward, placing his forehead into the path of the shot. The ball careened off his brow and over the cross-bar. Bleeding and a little dazed he jumped back to his feet ready to face the next shot-on-goal.
My business students usually gasp when I tell this story during class discussion on ethics. I ask them to consider whether the small things we commit to practice in private will shine through onto a more public stage. I also get to probe students about facing “big” ethical dilemmas, and ask if they think they’ll stand in the main if they have not stood in the small?
My Biggest Test
As a follower of Christ, preparing for campus life is important to me (1 Cor. 9:25-27). I am coming to see that readying myself for “big” tests is not the focus. In fact it appears to be quite the reverse; that my “big test” is that I remain faithful in the small. Mother Teresa’s approach to the overwhelming challenge of Calcutta’s poor was to do “small things with great love” (Poplin 2008, p.69). I believe this is also the heart of my challenge on campus.
As a Christian academic, when I think of the overwhelming task of “rebuilding the modern university”, I feel a bit like Mother Teresa in India. Like her, my commitment to follow Christ in the large task of rebuilding starts by doing small things with great love; laying one small stone at a time at my place on the wall (Nehemiah 4:6).
Poplin, Mary. (2008). Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service. Intervarsity Press: Downers Grove, IL.
© 2009 Mark Pritchard