Just a few days ago, my husband was enjoying a delicious salad I prepared when suddenly he winced, “Ouch, I don’t believe I almost cracked my tooth. This olive has a pit in it, instead of a pimento!”

Olives still grow in Israel. When Jesus went to pray before His betrayal, He went to the Garden of Gethsemane. In Hebrew, the word Gethsemane means “oil press.’’ This leads scholars to believe the garden was in an olive grove.

Olive oil during Biblical times was used for lamp oil, for anointing, and a variety of other uses. Olive wood was used to build tabernacle doors for the inner sanctuary as well as, door lintels and doorposts. Like the currently advertised Mediterranean Diet, olive oil was and is used to enhance foods and a cooking staple.

But those pits….what about them? Olive pits are harder than wood and a good fuel source. Ground up, they are used in the pharmaceutical industry and the world of glamour and makeup. Of course, the use you might be most familiar with is for regrowth of olive trees.

This tiny, varied in color and taste fruit has an even smaller pit and yet is such a useful food item. If Jesus has been gone 2000+ years and olives were important and useful during His years on earth, how blessed are we to still have them to enjoy and enhance our lives! Not only does God love us unconditionally, He provides pits for us! Bless those pits, God is good.

Jill