Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church

 

Can we spend some time together? This is one way we say to one another, “you matter to me.”  When our response is “Yes” … we express our loving openness to connect.

 

Our connection may be over a drink at the corner coffee café, by texting or emailing, by sitting next to each other in worship, by yelling together at a football game, by walking the land, by starting school prayerfully thinking of each other, by shopping together, by visiting in the hospital, by having an office conversation, by imagining and praying for each other when separated by miles … really our connections can be through anything that we find meaningful.  In our 21st century world there are many quality ways for us to invest time with each other.

 

For love to be expressed through time, we must:

 

1) Be emotionally, mentally and spiritually present;

2) Be desiring God’s best to happen;

3) Be open for the moment to serve its own purpose without being dependent on other agendas;

4) Be discerning whether the other person/s is catching our loving desire for God’s best to be happening in their lives.

 

We are all faced with major life decisions on a regular basis.  We are also faced with living life – and everything it throws at us and blesses us with – each day.  Prayerful time is essential for each of us to make right decisions.  Time with God prepares us to have the most loving time with each other.  And we share this with others, prayerful conversations can be intimate & powerful ways to learn about & from each other, work & play alongside each other, and laugh and cry together by sharing in each other’s joy & pain.

 

This is why we quote that popular and wise saying “How do you spell love? TIME.”

 

Shared time connects with our desire to be known and to know each other.  Consequently, we feel loved when persons of good will connect with us by being “fully present” … When they truly hear our words to understand our meaning … When they see our actions to glimpse our wonder … When they speak to us from insights gained by paying attention to our moods, quirks, joys, and grief.  The Bible describes this as being in a face to face relationship with each other.

 

So when Jesus was facing his last hours on earth, He asked his disciples to be with Him … just to be with Him.  He prepared a last meal for them to share.  Then He invited them to pray together in their familiar Garden.  By being fully present with Him during their Last Supper, and prayer time in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus would be strengthened to face what was before Him … Judas’ betrayal. Corrupt courts.  People’s hypocrisy.  Peter’s denial.  Mother Mary’s sadness.  Crucifixion’s agony. Death’s loneliness.  The difficult times could be better endured by the preceding endearment of faithful times with His inner circle.

 

His disciples’ response was limited because they were still learning how to be real & present with Christ.  Yet they were shaped during that last shared time in such a way that they would better know how to love God & each other in the future.

 

Likewise, after the loving Father and the Prodigal Son were re-united in the time and space of wrapping their reconciling arms around each other - their family would never be the same. They had learned the life-giving lesson of how to be fully present with each other.

 

How about you?  How is your time with God and the people in your life?  Just focus on seeing good times as LOVING TIMES and see what God will do…

 

Pastor Les Hollon

 

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.  Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

- Matthew 26: 36-46

 

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.  “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.  “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’  “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

- Luke 15: 11-32

 

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.  For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.

 

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