Please take time to read our Scripture focus for this series, Luke 24:13-34.
A well-spent hour.
When was last time you spent one? How did it walk? How did it talk? What were the particulars and who was involved?
Everyday we are given twenty-four hours to spend. At least one of them should spend extraordinary—in the sowing of something worthy. In the seeding of humanity’s soil toward a good and sacred end.
Everyday, twenty-four hours. Every week, 168 opportunities to plant for God’s greater gain. And so I ask you again, when was the last time you invested wisely?
Not long ago, I lived a well-spent hour. It was with one of you, on the phone during a long drive home from a doctor’s visit. I’d been meaning to call for some time but hesitated for various reasons. Good reasons, but not great ones. So instead of companioning alongside my music for the seventy miles ahead, I decided to make the call. I’m so glad that I did. The hour flew by with the flurry of our many words.
Words about life. Words about dreams. Words about pain. Words about hope, and most importantly…
Words about Jesus and prayers spoken accordingly. A worthy boast shared between two hearts who are intricately connected by the cord of Calvary’s reach. It wasn’t just a great hour, my friends. It was a lavish investment of sacred proportion. A life-shaping, extraordinary segment of chronicled time. Not because it held a great epiphany for either one of us, but simply because our Jesus was lifted up in our few moments of conversation. And therein lies a seeded truth for all of time…past, present, and future.
Every occasion that boasts the name of Jesus is an occasion marked forever as sacred. When God is the topic of conversation…when his name takes the stage of our hearts…his presence is sure to follow—to arrive and to mediate his majesty within our midst.
He did meet with us in that hour, even as he did with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus almost 2000 years ago as they walked their questions and talked their faith. Jesus could have bypassed this moment…could have taken another road in that particular hour. After all, it was a big day for him. A resurrection day. A day of making good on a promise that was sown before the very foundation of the world. But rather than taking to the immediate applause of the stage, Jesus took to the road. Why?
Because where two or three are gathered in his name…his promise is to be among us (Matthew 16:20).
Indeed, they were gathered in his name. Not fully understanding all that had happened. Not fully connecting the dots between the stirrings and the wonderings and the speculation of things to come. Still and yet, they talked. They didn’t dismiss their heart’s pause. They put voice to their thoughts, and in doing so, they entreated the heart of their Savior.
This is a teaching that certainly warrants our attention this day as we continue to set our tables for communion with the Father.
If deep communion with Jesus is to be tasted, then boasting in his name is a certain invitation that will always draw his sacred participation.
When was the last time that you invested accordingly?
We are a people of many words, unafraid to put voice to our lofty ideals and our superior thinking and our emotions that almost always rally to the stage, regardless of their intent. We litter our conversations with talk about…
Marriage.
Children.
The lack of either.
Television shows.
Trends.
People…both of the normal and perceived strange variety.
Headlines.
Diets.
Exercise.
Habits.
Politics.
Music.
Food.
World views.
Religions.
Concerns.
Frustrations.
Joys.
Hurts.
_____________________,
All potentially worthy topics for discussion. Potentially. But if we were to carefully examine our words with the scrutiny of an unseen focus—a sacred gaze into the eternal value of our language—how much of it would seed lasting and toward God’s good and perfect end?
I’m not after a legalistic approach to “doing life” with Jesus. I’m not after a cloistered existence that lives in isolation, apart from others so as to keep a constant focus on God. A monastic lifestyle is not my preference. But what I am after, is more meaningful participation in the life that I’ve been given.
More purposeful attention toward the “stuff” that matters. More conversations that seed toward the future. More communion with the Father that breathes eternal and toward my good and perfect end.
Well spent hours. Well spent weeks. Well spent years. A well spent life. I can live it alone with Jesus, but it won’t spend as well as when I live it alongside of you…
Doing life together with Jesus. Boasting in his name and sharing in his communion as we walk our Emmaus road to the table of grace.
Thank you, each one, for taking the time to walk this journey with me. Some of us have been “doing life” together for the last 100 posts. Today marks the occasion, and the seeds of friendship that have been sown along the way have been etched with the favor of heaven’s breath and with the communion of a Father who sees us as we walk and who worships with us as we talk–
about Him. About our soon and coming forever, when the seeds of our now will bloom lasting and beautiful and for our good and perfected end. It is my privilege to share life with you, and to pray on your behalf…
Grant us, Father, the gift of your presence as we walk this journey. As we talk of your fame and as we boast in your gracious grace that has been lavished upon us because of your limitless love. Make us ever mindful of your walk among us, and let our words be seasoned with conversations that level from such an understanding. Let them speak with eternal focus and let them breathe with the everlasting strength and power of your witness. It is my joy to “do life” with the saints here in blogland. Use my words for your glory and for their gain, for as long as I am allowed this forum. You are the only boast worthy of my words. Humbly and with reverence, I submit my pen for the journey. Amen.
Copyright © September 2008 – Elaine Olsen. All rights reserved.
~elaine
As a way of celebrating this 100th post, I will be giving away Chris Tomlin’s new CD (oh my… have you heard it?) entitled “Hello Love.” Just leave a comment, and I will select a winner prior to my next post. If you want to hear one of the songs, “I Will Rise,” click on the screen below. I love doing life with you! Shalom.
First, congrats on the 100th post! You are an amazing writer and I am thrilled to share these moments with you. Secondly, I love this post. I am going to schedule my time for tomorrow – right now. I feel that’s my biggest problem… the schedule. If I don’t purposefully put it in, it doesn’t happen. And finally, you’re awesome! So there!
Elaine, I would love to be entered in your giveaway. And congrats on your 100th post! What a great milestone. I just realized I missed celebrating my 100th so will shoot for celebrating my 1-yr. anniversary in blogging — if I don’t forget 🙂 And thanks so much for signing up today for my newsletter and giveaway!
Elaine, how you stir in me a desire to invest my time! Great words for today. And congratulations on your 100th post!
Congrats on your 100th post. I always forget to look at stuff like that. Count me in for the draw. It is now almost 2:00am here and I am having insomnia, so I cannot leave a thoughtful comment right now…so later…and blessings…
Love, Sita
(glad you all were safe during the storm)
Elaine,
Congratulations on your 100th post. I must say I have enjoyed and been blessed by each and every one. I look forward to spending some part of my day with you. You have enlightened me in more ways than you will ever know by your love, your words of encouragement and your friendship. Look forward to sharing the next 7 weeks with you and our Lord as we journey on yet another exciting bible study. Blessings my friend!
Elaine, I’m almost to my 100th post too! (I’ve written 126 if you count both my blogs.) Congratulations~~~ I feel like I need to go back and read all that you wrote before I “met” you. What a precious several months I have shared with you here – God’s thoughts, to your hands, to my heart. It’s an Emmaus walk each time I visit.
Your writing today is a continuation of my Pastor’s message yesterday morning. One that left me hungry and on my knees this morning. Thank you for the ‘feeding’.
Feasting as His banquet table,
Joy
Congratuations on #100!
Were I to pick just one momentous hour, it might take me that long to make the pick. I’ve had my share of hours blah, painful, fun, momentous, difficult … But boy am I glad I’ve had so many more that are now etched into the eternal “treasure” collection that outlasts even death.
Noting equals even a second shared with a friend in the presence of the Lord. Without words sometimes, or with words – we both come away changed; better. As the song says, “Twill be my theme in glory.”
Keep on stirring our souls to deeper themes for yet another 100 posts.
God bless,
Kathleen
Wow Elaine,
You’ve been wallpapered!
You see, when I find a Scripture verse or quote that really inspires me, I take a screenshot of it, format it in a way that I like, and then save it as a jpeg that my computer wallpaper-switching program can recognize. Every 5 minutes a new quote pops up on my screen, and now there’s one that begins,
“Every occasion that boasts the name of Jesus
is an occasion marked forever as sacred.”
Quotes from Scripture, and from Piper, Tozer, Spurgeon, G. H. Morrison, Chambers, and Elaine. You’re in good company!
Thanks for making that audio clip available. It’s gorgeous!
Oh friend…what wisdom. This very morning I was reading a book entitled “The Way of the Heart” by Henri J. M. Nouwen. The topic was “silence”, and there was a section on how our words, today, have become so profuse, with no substance, that they cause people to walk away from conversations saying, “They were only words”.
It goes on to say that when our words are rooted in the “silence” of our communion with God, they “prevent us from becoming entangled in the cares of this age. [This silence] guards the fire of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. It allows us to speak a word that participates in the creative and recreative power of God’s own Word.”
Our conversations with each other, that are brought forth out of the silence of our communion with God, are indeed time well spent – indeed, eternal seed sown.
Happy Blogoversary my sweet friend – my life is so enriched by your obedience to God through your pen!
Hugs,
Melinda
100 posts?!!!! Wow, lady,congratulations! I love this post, the Walk to Emmaus is one of my favorite Bible stories. It captures the mystery of Christ so well, I think.
I’m praying for you, friend! I received one of those wonderful emails we were talking about two days ago. Still recovering. Still wanting to bury my head in the sand. But this post encourages me. What I really need is more time with Him.
Thank you, Faith Elaine.
Oh, your words are rich, meaningful, powerful. Anointed. I long for more intentionality, greater purposeful living. Amen.
Elaine,
Congratulations on your 100th post. Your write with such great insight and love for Jesus. Thank you for all you’ve put into this journey.
A year ago I never even really knew what blogging was! Now I see some of the commenters on your blog are some of my blogging friends, too. It’s such a small, wonderful community.
Yes, of course, enter me in the drawing. I love free things!
Great post today. We do all get the same 24 hours in each day. Does our walk match our talk? Sometimes that’s a mirror I’d rather not look into. Thanks for the reflection. It’s much needed!
Blessings,
Kelli
Congratulations. I’ve only been reading your blog a short time now, but am always blessed by it.
Thank you for being true to what God wants you to share with all of us. You are a blessing.
Peace and Love,
Joan
I spent one of those hours on the phone with a bloggy friend this weekend. What a treasure it is to have a true friend. Here’s the scripture I’ve had on my mind since then “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?”
Amos 3:3
I’m so glad that He has crossed our paths as well. You and your God given words in writing have blessed me greatly. Blessings~
Wow how time flies when you’re having fun. I bet you’ve touched 100 lives too.
God bless you Elaine!
100 posts and I LOVE them all! I am still marvelling at how God brought us together – it was your post Love Tied to a Tree. God has truly blessed you with the gift of writing and I am thankful to be a part of our Godly Blogland and walking along with you in this journey.
Not having children I have the luxury of “down time.” I can spend an hour reading about my fellow Christian sister’s lives and faith… I have a dear friend who when we talk… well let me tell you… we can boast about Jesus like no other! But I do have to admit, there are days that when I have my “down time” that it might not be spent boasting about my Jesus.
I know that some doors might not be opening right now, but God IS using You in a mighty way! Your writing is blessing so many! You truly are bringing Glory to His name!
Much Love to you friend!
One of my favorite songs of all time…
welcoming Jesus into every conversation…oh, if we could remember to do that with EVERY conversation. Not that we would seek to change others, but seek to align ourselves to His righteiousness…I blow it on my own.
I do love to pray with my accountability sisters each week, when we all are at His feet, and quite often feel His Spirit residing and listening, loving and caring for each and every situation we bring to him, confess to him, and yes, we question him. “We Put Voice to Our Hearts Thoughts” is exactly what we do…he knows it before we say it, but in the speaking the love, care, concern, pain, fear–He descends with providence and puts salve where its needed.
God is Good, All the TIME
ALL THE TIME, God is Good…Amen!
Congratulations on 100 wonderful, inspiring posts! Thank you for “pushing my buttons”, “ringing my bell” . . . . and making me think.
Blessings and hugs from “the creek”.
What an absolutely spirit moving post. It seems since our lives changed 1 1/2 years ago when God moved us from our church family to ?!? someplace else, I have not had many well spent moments with anyone except family.
I am longing for the days when God can use me again in well spent moments.
Congratulations on your 100th post. I am so thankful that I found your blog and have enjoyed reading it along with treasuring your sweet and encouraging comments on my blog.
Blessings, Cindy
In my post “A woman’s heart, God’s Dwelling place”, I recounted a ‘life’ encounter: “A friend and I were talking the other night in a divine cocoon in the midst of youthful energy and noise. I ‘ve just realized what a precious time of sharing it was, hearts bared, weakness admitted, perseverance in faith determined. My friend’s eyes shone with an intensity that revealed her pain, and more importantly, the glory of God that always radiates in weakness. Beth talks about the heart (tabernacle) being a place where God meets with us, like I met my friend. Here it is safe and holy. I can bare my heart to Him and know His pleasure in me.”
These are eternal moments in that His life in them lasts forever. Thank you for sharing, Elaine.
Congrats on your 100th post.
Lately I have not been picking up more blogs to read….there is just not enough time.
But I found something here that made me think…or I guess I could say, Chew.
I am not into fluff…although a little is good. We can’t take ourselves too seriously. 🙂
But I have enjoyed what I have found here. I enjoyed reading and talking about the deep thins of our Lord.
SO…..keep up the good work!
Congrats on your 100th post.
This is an encouraging yet convicting post…that is to boast more about Jesus in my conversations and live a life well-spent in a better way.
You are a great writer.
Paula
Happy One Hundred Posts, Elaine!:)
I love this story, mainly because I love any time Jesus was ‘walking among us’ in the Bible. It’s hard to imagine “physically” being in His presence.
One part of the verses that you shared at the beginning of the post, really jumped out at me…
~“As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.”~
The part “but they were kept from recognizing him,” really struck me. It makes me wonder about the times (or seasons) when I have not felt His presence in my life, if I was “kept” from recognizing him…..And if so, what divine reason was attached to my time of feeling “alone.” That really makes me think…..But the good part is although they were “kept” from recognizing Him, He was absolutely there…..And the same is true of us today, amen?:)
Congratulations again on your 100th post!
God Bless,
Amy:)
Late commenting on this one, Elaine, but congratulations on your 100th post!
Mmm, mmm, mmm. I was shaking my head in agreement all the way through this one. For the last couple of years, the Lord has just stripped away my interest in anything that doesn’t boast His name! I can barely tolerate “small talk” anymore. There’s no time to waste with things that don’t matter in the eternal kingdom plan.
Great post!
Elaine, it doesn’t seem possible… only 100 posts? It must be that each of your posts contain so much of our Lord that it seems like you’ve been posting much longer! Congratulations, my sister. May the Lord continue to draw you into the desert and speak ever so sweetly to you. You are an encouragement to me. Thank you. Call me anytime you want to boast about the Lord… I’m all ears!
Elaine-I don’t know if you will even see this post since it is late…I will probably send you an e-mail too. Your words and Alicia’s words seem so similair in that they go deep and they cause one to think, to contemplate, to change. After reading anotehr chapter in Alicia’s book in my devotion this morning and then reading my scripture capter, I felt a need for more so I came here to your site and I am filled. Thank you for writing for God and blessing so many women.
In His Graces~Pamela
Hi Elaine. I know this is an old post, but it has blessed me.
Gladwell