Lessons Under the Fig Tree

The kids love Bible Bowl and as an way to encourage their interest our backyard is a living history of the books they have studied.  You see each year as we have focused on a book of the Bible for Bible Bowl some element has been added to our garden from the book we are studying. 

In 2009, we studied the book of John.  Caleb like the story of Nathanael under the fig tree.  So we planted a Brown Turkey Fig and have watched it grow.  It is now huge!  Definitely large enough to sit under!  In the past two years it has produced a huge crop of figs.  We have shared our fruit with friends and neighbors; made jellies and syrups; and today we made yummy snacks.

Again, where else would you turn for yummy recipes but Pinterest, and there we found a recipe for dried figs with almonds and chocolate. With recipe secured the girls and I harvested a bowl of ripe figs, proceeded to wash and cut them and then laid them out in my food dehydrator (thanks Granny & Donnie).  The following day we simply put a few dried figs in each mini-cupcake liner along with almond sliced and covered in melted chocolate!  Yum!

I get that all we did was made a few snacks, but in the process the kids and I chatted about the story in the book of John and revisited what we liked about it.  How awesome is that, plus we have snacks!

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him,
“Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.”
 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on ’the Son of Man.”

John 1:47-51