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After a week of training in MI and a week of settling in, sight seeing and understanding the lay of the land so to speak we dug deep into volunteering.
And I literally mean dug in deep. We are volunteering at a place called Tent of Nations (TON) on Monday’s and Tuesday’s. It’s a farm owned by the sweetest Palestinian Christian family. They primarily grow olives, grapes and almonds but there are a variety of other things grown on the farm too, like apples and figs. We spent our first hours there digging around all of the trees so that the trees had room to breath and grow.
As we were clearing all of the brush and the thorns from around the trees I was sad to see them go. The bushes made the land look so full and beautiful. It hurt my heart ( and my hands lol ) to rip them out. But thorns were taking away from the trees ability to produce good fruit. The nutrients from the rain can’t get to the tree unless the ground around it is exposed. The grass and the plants that have roots closer to the surface will use the nutrients first and give the tree what’s left over. So it’s necessary to remove the thorns and the bushes despite their beauty. It got me thinking that sometimes the beauty around us harms our growth. Sometimes the surroundings that are seemingly giving us depth are actually suffocating us. And sometimes our desire to give what we have hinders our ability to produce what we were created for.
It’s a beautiful picture of the mountain Tent of Nations stands on. It’s surrounded by Israeli settlements that are beautiful to the eye but have so much pain behind why they are there. Every single day the land is under attack. There are 50 or more demolition orders from the Israeli government assigned to TON land that is legally not the governments to take; despite that, there is still a conflict of control. And the family has no other choice but to keep living their life knowing that God is the one ultimately in control. The family has been fighting for their land for 33 years. Proving ownership, providing papers and going to court case after court case. Israel is the thorn bush hindering the growth and the victory over land. The victory over the hundreds of evicted Palestinian families. And instead of shooting guns or throwing grenades they plant trees and stand for hope and restoration.
Tuesday morning after learning about the purpose and mission behind Tent of nations I came across Psalm 15:
“Who Shall Dwell on Your Holy Hill?
A Psalm of David.
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O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
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He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart;
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who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
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in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord;who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
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who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent.He who does these things shall never be moved.”
The owner of the tent of nations is named Daoud (the name David in Arabic). So down to the “psalm of David” Psalm 15 describes everything this family is going through. The way he speaks of the settlements, the way he approaches the attacks with peace, bribes he’s been offered by the government and didn’t accept, the hope that he has for victory. It blew my mind. Everything the family had been through was written in scripture. This one chapter gave me so much hope and encouraged me to work and speak all things to glory of God. It reminded me that everything is in God’s timing and works according to his plan.
It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around the conflict and understand why all of this is happening. Understand what it’s like to live in a way that provokes so much hate. And truly understand what it’s like to love all people as Jesus does, despite the violence or the desire to be angry. God restores all things, but never in the way we think or imagine and it takes immense patience in the midst of pain. But, the process of restoration is beautiful, even if it looks messy, like ripped out bushes and dug up rocks. It’s worth the labor so that we can harvest good fruit.
Before I even knew the details of what Tent of Nations was going through I saw this one lone chair sitting overlooking the mountains and the settlements and I saw a metaphor. I couldn’t help but see the chair alone, faded and faced with problems and destruction but sitting still on the hill top just taking in the beauty all around it. Sitting there in perfect condition only a little wobbly and worn by the sun. Sitting there waiting for someone to sit upon it, without hesitation or any doubt that the chair might break. Sitting alone but with endless possibilities.
That’s what this family is fighting for. They have faith as the look at all the torn down cities around them. They stand alone with faith ready for someone to sit on them. And give hope to all the people that can only see future destruction. They fight with peace to restore hope.
We’ll be spending the the next 4 weeks volunteering at Tent of Nations 2 days a week ( Monday/Tuesday) and 1 day a week volunteering at a natural history museum on Wednesday and then tours and excursions the rest of the week. Please continue to pray for safety as we go into unknown places, for peace for our team, and this country, as there is conflict everyday.
Talk soon, Aspen ♡
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