Recently I found myself on a basketball court. I picked up the ball with visions of past glories rebounding in my head (…and those glories are more delusional than actual). As I positioned myself at the free-throw line it occurred to me that the ball had become noticeably heavier and that the basket was somewhat further away. Undaunted, I went through the routine and took the shot. The shot arched nicely through the winter air and in my mind the crowd broke out in a chorus of ….. air ball, air ball! … as the shot returned to earth well short of its intended destiny of “nothing but net.” 

I am not sure why I expected to pick up a ball some 40 years, without a moment of practice, and expected to hear the sweet snap of “swish.”

I am not sure why expect to be able to love if we are not willing to practice love.

Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another…
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us. (1 John 4:11-12)

Nothing but net.