Pour, Pour, Pour

               A few days ago, while running to retrieve a football I was repeating “pour, pour, pour” over and over.  I found myself on the football field with my 15 year-old son. He wanted to practice punting and kicking, in the hopes that he might replace the graduating kicker on his high school football team next fall.  My husband usually handles the sport practices, but he was under the weather with a terrible cold.

               Earlier that week, I had been using Jeff Cavin’s new Bible Study titled “Walking Toward Eternity”.  It uses Lectio Divina to study several different topics, including love.  The passage I was reading was 1 Corinthians 13.  I think of this chapter as the wedding passage.  Having been to countless weddings with the reading, “Love is patient, love is kind”, my husband and I chose not to use it when planning our wedding 19 years ago. 

               I read the passage out loud twice and then quietly prayed with it.  I envisioned a water fall, understanding that true love is like a waterfall that pours and pours and pours.  The question in the journal asked me to describe the passage and I wrote “unending pouring”. 

               If love truly “never ends” and is all of the things described in 1 Corinthians 13, then it is like a waterfall pouring over those who are loved.  That means that I am the "pourer" of love over those I love.  To be able to pour means emptying myself, even when it feels like I don’t have anything more to give (or  don’t want to give any more).

               Later that day, I found myself on the football field, chasing down balls that landed on a fabric covering.  Rightly, my son didn’t think it was a good idea for him to run on the fabric with cleats.  First he enthusiastically practiced 8 or 10 punts (being filmed by me), and then 8 or 10 extra points.  He analyzed each kick, looked at the video to determine his form and then kicked the ball again. The clock was ticking.  I watched my watch as the minutes flew by, knowing that I needed to get home, shower change and get to church to lector at the 5 pm mass.

               As I was chasing that ball, I wanted to shut the practice down and go home.  And then the words, “pour, pour, pour” came into my head.  I realized that being generous with my time was the way I was pouring out my love for him (and for Him) that afternoon.  We gathered the kicking paraphernalia and headed for home 50 minutes before mass.

               We arrived at church 12 minutes in advance of the beginning of mass.  That was late for me, but in plenty of time to gather a sense of calm and prepare for reading.  My hair was slightly damp and I the only makeup was mascara on my lashes.  I doubt that anyone noticed.  But my son knows that I was willing to help him in this new venture and the Lord knows that I did my best to “pour” my love out for him that afternoon.