Recently we had the privilege of helping to lead a trip to the Holyland, over 120 people on an amazing trip to Israel and Jordan. We were responsible for 42 people….the blue bus…the fun bus!!
There were so many stand out moments, places we visited, experiences we had, reflections that moved us deeply.
But one experience we had will live with us forever…
We were in the Garden of Gethsemane, the place where Jesus prayed and agonised on the night before we was crucified. The name Gethsemane literally means “pressing” it’s full of olive trees and I think it can speak into times in our lives of intense suffering and squeezing.
After we reflected together on what Jesus experienced in the garden we were given some time to wander round….that’s when we saw it….
Under a tree there in the garden of Gethsemane were 3 women from our bus…3 mothers who didn’t know each other before the trip but who had each lost a son at a young age all in really tragic circumstances.
Under the tree they sat…under the tree they hugged…under the tree they wept…under the tree they prayed….
Allison and I know some of the pain of their stories and we watched on in tears ourselves….why was this so impacting?
Sometimes in life you find yourself under a tree you never expected, wanted or even deserved and when you do it matters who’s under your tree.
You see we were never meant to be alone.
The first problem in the world was not sin it was isolation.
God said ‘it’s not good for man to be alone’.
Bad things happen when we get isolated, just look at Elijah.
He found himself under a tree in the desert alone….
When we find ourselves under the tree alone we can lose some things…
We can lose the sense of reality….‘I’m the only one left’ he said but he wasn’t….
Jezebel said she’d kill him in a day but she didn’t and he was running for fear.
We lose empathy, we cut ourselves of from others and we can even lose our sense of sanity as in the case of Elijah.
When you find people who get it, who understand, who can sit under your tree with you it can all change. The pain doesn’t necessarily go away, the situation doesn’t necessarily change, the questions don’t necessarily disappear, but you know you’re not alone….
As I write this it’s approaching Christmas, that time when we try to be together with others and when the pain of not being together or not being with people we’ve lost is so acute.
Don’t be on your own under your tree…
Even Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane didn’t want to be there on his own so he took his friends with him.
As someone once said…..
‘Solitude is a gift from God but isolation is a tool of the enemy’
So I have 3 encouragements for you whatever tree you find yourself under…these are for you whether you have faith or not…
#1 – Don’t sit under your tree alone…find some others, invite some others into your life …take a chance
#2 – Don’t let others sit under their tree alone….notice people and reach out to them.
At our church (lifecentralchurch.org.uk) like many others we are putting on a Christmas Day meal for people who may find themselves alone or isolated this Christmas.
Let’s all look out for people alone under their tree….
#3 – Do remember that when you do at times find yourself alone under your tree…..you’re not!
This is the heart of the Christmas story, God couldn’t bear to leave us alone any longer and so He came, the God “with skin on” to be with us, to sit with us even under the tree…
“….She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”” – Matthew 1:23 NLT
We are hoping to run another trip to Israel Nov 8-15th 2023.
Detailed itinerary and costs are being worked out if you’re interested you register your interest (no commitment) by signing up using this link….
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