Once upon a Calling… Israel Blooming In The Desert

In the Holy Land, all the people like to grow things. In fact, having a garden is a must if you live in Israel. Why’s that?

     In the past, many countries in the world would not allow Jewish people to own land, let alone farm it, so before Israel ever became a country, Jewish families flocked to the land, to farm on the Kibbutz (a community of people living together, reclaiming the land and growing food. In fact, they began growing healthy food organically before there was such a thing as organic food). The Israelis took an uninhabitable territory and transformed it into a land truly flowing with milk and honey. The swamps full of Malaria-infested mosquitos became lavish groves of lemon, orange, and pomelo. The useless miles of soggy earth became golden fields of barley, rye, and wheat and the rocky, desolate hills now grow vegetables of all kinds as well as luscious grapes, dates, pomegranates, olives, and almonds. It is miraculous, really. So, today, while planting vegetables or flowers in a pot on a terrace or directly sowing into a plot of earth; it is an Israeli right of passage or the national heritage to demonstrate love and gratitude to God for His creation by ‘gardening’.

     While living in the land, I grew herbs, olives, almonds, and flowers, which are pretty much, the basics in Israel. There was one project that I especially loved. We decided to begin caring for a grove of neglected and abandoned olive trees. When we first arrived, this grove was buried under waist-high weeds and tons of old, discarded rock and rubble. The trees were overgrown, droopy, riddled with disease, and had not produced any decent fruit in years. It was a travesty! We could not bear it. It seemed wrong to allow the magnificent olive tree of Israel to be treated thus. Consequently, we made it our mission to save the trees.

First, we began by clearing the detritus from around the trees, washing their leaves of dust and filth, and consistently watering, to build a new structure of healthy roots. We then pruned the dead branches and suckers from the trunks, so that the nutrients and water would heal and refresh, thus bringing back rigor and strength to the entire tree. Amazingly, the olive trees began to mend and by fall each tree produced a small, yet healthy crop of olives.

Thanks to the internet and the advice of local growers, we learned how to process the olives and in a few short weeks we were eating some of the same kinds of olives that Jesus ate. It was an incredible gardening experience. Somehow, in a small way, we felt as the Israelis must have felt in the early 19^th century as they drained the swamps and rerouted the water to provide irrigation to the land and in so doing, demonstrating a love and gratitude to God for His creation. It was a great feeling to know that we had transformed this small grove of olive trees.

     Although, you may not live in Israel, there are ways that you too can demonstrate your love and gratitude to God for His creation. There are ways to bloom in the desert. Gardening in one such process. Further, one can be very creative in growing things wherever you call home. Growing vegetables in a pot by a sunny window or even planting vegetables in a raised bed on your roof can be extremely rewarding. Therefore, I encourage you to plan a little gardening project of your own this spring and see where it takes you. I am confident you will learn many new things… about God and yourself. Happy Blooming.

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