Mamá Plays Fútbol

"Miguel, do you want to play soccer?"Miguel looked up from his homework. His friend Isaac peeked at him through the screen door. Miguel grinned. "You mean fútbol?" he asked, using the Spanish word for soccer.Isaac laughed. "No, soccer!" "Fútbol!" "Homework!" Mamá pushed through the swinging door from the kitchen. "It's not long until dinner. We're having empanadas."Miguel's mouth watered as he thought of the fried pockets of pastry with cheesy filling. Then he looked down at his book. "I can finish my homework later, Mamá."Mamá shook her head. "Homework first. Then dinner. Then fútbol. That's the rule." She went back into the kitchen. "It's a dumb rule," Miguel muttered. He pushed his book away and slipped outside. Minutes later, Mamá came outside. "Uh oh," Isaac said."I want to play too," Mamá said. "I want to play fútbol." Isaac and Miguel looked at each other. Suddenly, Mamá scooped up the soccer ball and started running away from the boys. She ran out of the front yard and down the street. "Mamá, wait! Where are you going?" Miguel shouted. "Mamá!" Mamá stopped running. "What's wrong?" she asked. "I want to play fútbol.""You're not playing by the rules!" Miguel said. "Why should I?" Mamá asked. Miguel tried to catch his breath. "Without rules, fútbol isn't fútbol. You're just running with the ball by yourself."Mamá nodded. "You're right. Following the rules allows everyone to play the game together. The rules we have in our family are like that too. They help us think about how our actions affect others so we can show each other the love of Jesus instead of only thinking about ourselves." Mamá bounced the soccer ball against her knee. "You know He died for us because we broke His rules, right? And we can show that same kind of love by acting in a way that benefits others and not just ourselves." Mamá smiled and tossed the ball to Miguel."Okay, Mamá," Miguel said. "I'll go do my homework." "And I'll finish dinner," Mamá said. "Let's not keep those empanadas waiting!" -Hannah Zellers