So we are a part of a home school group. It's full of boys, it's loud and chaotic but I wouldn't want it any other way. The boys are learning about trees and I just love the moms who are putting the work into it...it's a blessing to watch them teach.
Last week one of the moms mentioned the significance of an Olive Tree in the bible...or olives in general. It was intriguing to me and so naturally I wanted to come home and dive into it.
I am no theologian and I know there are more than likely a million different and deeper significances of olives in the Bible. But this is what I do know...
Children and adults are compared to olive trees or branches in the Bible. Olive trees or branches are mentioned many times in the Bible. It was an olive branch that the dove brought back to the Ark, there is the Mount of Olives, Kings and Priests were anointed with olive oil on their heads, it was used to light lamps (like the Menorah) and it was an orchard where Jesus went to pray...the Garden of Gethsemane.
To this day there are olive trees over 1,000 years old still producing fruit. Olive trees are incredibly strong. In their old age they hallow out but their trunk continues to grow thicker. If you were to look around an olive tree you would more than likely see several shoots springing up around it ensuring it's existence and making it's longevity a beautiful characteristic. Even if the trunk is cut down, the shoots continue to grow. The olive tree thrives in rocky soil and lives to bear fruit for centuries. It is not considered the most beautiful of trees BUT it's fruit was beautiful...necessary.
A few of these facts really stood out to me...and I love the picture I painted in my head...unless it's wrong (wink wink). As followers of Christ, we as Christians have a daily decision to take up our cross, die to ourselves and choose to follow the One who died for us. I close my eyes and picture myself as an olive tree. I am a broken sinner...no good for nothing...deserving of the very least. Daily I struggle with "pet sins" that as Christians we tolerate. There is nothing that my hands can do to save my guilty soul...I have done nothing to earn the love of Christ. Without Christ...I am dust. Does that paint a pretty picture? The Olive Tree is not a pretty tree...just like me. With the help of Christ we are able to endure. With the help of Christ we tend to thrive in rocky soil. When we choose to trust Christ with our lives...when we endure hard times...we can choose to thrive in our faith or not. The olive tree thrived in rocky soil and stood strong in hard weather. I picture my Aunt who thrived in her rocky soil...brain cancer. She was human, yes she failed, but the most beautiful thing about her was her fruit. She stood strong in her test of trials and she showed in an example to those around her...the fruit bore from her life. I think of a friend who has stood against infertility and epilepsy...she has chosen to praise God in the storm and she is thriving in her rocky soil. And her fruit? Two beautiful twins and a bunch of women ministered to through her. It's...the beautiful from the ugly...the fruit produced in rocky soil.
This fruit? Because we have witnessed first hand those willing to stand true to their faith in rocky soil...we are filled. Even though my Aunt was "cut down"...she lost her battle to brain cancer...the "shoots" growing around her...are continuing to grow and she is a part of that. We are ugly like the olive tree because we are sin. But with Christ...we can withstand the rocky soil and stand firm in our faith. Those growing around us...the shoots surrounding us will see the fruit that comes from steadfastness. You will face hard times in life...God doesn't assure us that our lives will be easy, but being faithful to Christ...persevering and remaining steadfast...your branches will spread, your fruit will grow and that will be a witness. I want the boys in my life to see my steadfastness...they are the shoots surrounding my tree right now and I want the hope I have in Christ to continue into their lives...
OH! There's one more thing I learned about olive trees...In order to get the olives off the tree they were beaten and shaken. The fruit was pulled and stomped on...but out of that came olive oil...something necessary for living then.
Christ was beaten...to be unrecognizable and stripped of his clothing and spit upon...hung to a tree and died there...for me. It was a horrific image but out of it? Salvation...hope...and HE is necessary in our lives. We cannot be without Him.
This month I get to teach my boys about this. So we will be painting and making, reading and writing and praying...
I really want to paint with the boys and talk about the different significances of the olive branch....
and I would love to make homemade olive oil lamps....
And olive oil soap would be great too....
and other suggestions? And what picture do you paint in your head when given facts about the olive tree?
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