My personal prayer garden has to include flowers. But I am not entirely sure that the actual Garden Of Gethsemane had flowers except when the Olive Trees bloomed. I have often searched for information that gave a more realistic look at what the garden where Jesus prayed may have looked like. This week I finally found information that gave me a more truthful look. I have come to realize that Jesus may have gone there more for the symbolism than for the beauty of the garden, but I am sure whether a grove of olive trees looks less than "beautiful" to me, it was a place that Jesus loved to go. Today, gnarly semi-dwarfed, olive trees that are possibly hundreds of years old are sparcely scattered, and gravel like paths segregate them into loneliness on a bland beige hillside. Not what it is believed to have been like when Jesus walked and prayed there. In the day of King Herod, beautiful architecture and gardens and modern living were key to his staying in favor with Rome. He hob-knobbed with the important emmisaries of his day. He wanted them to have a beautiful city to visit.
The Garden of Gethsemane was believed to be a gorgeous plush hillside, covered in productive olive trees and was "the view" from the Lion's Gate of the Temple. David, the former King of Israel made the road up to the summit of the Mt of Olives famous, because it is the direction in which he fled when he was pursued by his son Absolom, who wanted David's throne and sought to take it by force. So it was historical, and important to the people for hundreds of years. As you cross the brook Kidron, one of the first things you pass , as you begin to climb the Mt. of Olives, is the Garden of Gethsemane. Prime "Real Estate," in its time. And it was a place where at the foot of the mount, on a busy thorough fare, a producer of Olive Oil, (the business to have in Jesus' day) had a successful grove of olive trees where the wine press could be found. More than likely, the owner pressed oil, and carried it to the market in Jerusalem on a daily basis for sale, as long as the olives were ripe for pressing. The remainder of the year, this place was where the trees were tended to produce the most fruit. It was probably leafless in the winter? I am not sure, I should check to see if olive trees lose their leaves. But were the winter birds seeking seed that fell to the ground during the harvest? I can imagine that in the spring the flowering trees drew bees and sent a wafting sweetness across the countryside. It was a changing, growing, seasonal garden, and I will begin to look at it differenly, as I imagine my Lord praying there. I am already excited. Because I already have seen what a great place it was, and I am delighted to grow in the Lord as he shares with me why He loved it so.
A place that was important to you Lord, is important to me. I am realizing that Places were significant to you. Whether places in time, or places on earth, or a place in the universe....Places have significance to you. Lord, teach me more about the places that have meaning to you, but also give me a truthful mental picture of each one. Help me share your love of each and every place. AMEN
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