Jesus the friend of lizards

You know it has been too long since your last blog post when you struggle to remember your password for logging in. It is now four months since I was on holiday in Israel. While I was there I spent some time in the garden of Gethsemane which is on the slopes of the Mount of Olives just East of Jerusalem. Luke chapter 5 verse 16 says that Jesus often withdrew himself to lonely or wild places and prayed. (My paraphrase) Later on in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 22 verse 39, it describes the Mount of Olives as a place he was "accustomed, " to going there. For those who are vaguely aware, the garden of Gethsemane is the place Jesus went to to pray the night before his crucifixion and was also the place he was arrested. When I was there I wanted to get a sense of place because to me this was the place that Jesus came to Zone In (Zone In as mentioned in previous post). This was the place where he had his sit spot to use other tracking terminology. It was here that he attuned himself to God, his Father. When I was there I could smell the fermenting olives lying on the ground and felt the heat and imagined Jesus here in the shade. I saw lots of little lizards as well around six inches long, scurrying around; it was then that I thought of Jesus being amused by these little creatures.  Sitting, praying, watching, praying, meditating, watching more with possibly lizards becoming attuned to his presence and scurrying over his feet. It reminds me of when I was on a course in Castlewellan Forest Park in Northern Ireland about a decade ago and had been living in the forest for two weeks when a little bird possibly a sparrow came and perched on my foot. I just in my mind, see Jesus being in touch with his creation around him. People tend to associate this being in touch within  nature with Francis of Assisi, but now I relate it more to Jesus. Israel is a place I would like to go back to. I did get some tracking done in Israel when I traveled down to Ein Gedi near the Dead Sea, but that is for the next post.
Here is a pic or three of this place:






One of the older olive trees, dated at around the time of Christ





One of the younger olive trees