威爾遜（Woodrow Wilson）在成為美國總統之前曾經是普林斯頓大學的校長，有一次他對一群學生的家長演說：

        「我接到許多封諸位的來信談到你們的孩子。你們想知道為什麼普大的教授不能將你們的孩子造就得更好。讓我告訴你們我們無能為力的理由。我無意冒犯各位，但他們是你們的孩子，在你們的家長大，身上流著你們的血液。他們已經吸收了諸位家中的觀念。你們已經塑造了他們。他們是你們的孩子，在他們生命中可塑性最強的時期，你們已經在他們身上留下永難磨滅的烙印了。」

        聖經說：「教養孩童使他走當行的道，就是到老他也不偏離。」要作到這樣並不容易，但這種理想也不會自動發生，它需要父母親的委身、犧牲、及許多的愛。用愛管教孩子，你的孩子將終生受用。相反的，淺薄的愛將使他們一輩子都沒有穩定的安全感。一切端賴於你如何撒種。

        這個原則在生活中的每個領域都是一樣的。如果你想得到許多蕃茄，你首先必須種植許多蕃茄。如果你希望上帝對你的生命有最好的祝福，你就必須在各方面都盡最大的努力。畢竟，我們將活至永恆，有一天我們都將進入天國。在那裡我們將成為「上帝的樹」。那顆樹會有多少果子呢？可以確定的是，樹上的果子將會和我們在世上時所栽種的果子一樣多。現在就是樂善好施的時候──在各方面。

        主耶穌，我們要用聖經的話作為我們的禱告，並要支取您透過聖經作者所作的應許。幫助我們多種，好使我們多收。賜恩使我們凡事充足，能多行各樣的善事。謝謝您喜愛捐得樂意的人。奉主耶穌聖名，阿們！

English

        Before he became president of the USA, Woodrow Wilson was president of Princeton University. I read recently of an occasion when he spoke to a group of parents:

        "I get many letters from you parents about your children. You want to know why we people up here in Princeton can't make more out of them and do more for them. Let me tell you the reason we can't. It may shock you just a little, but I am not trying to be rude. The reason is that they are your sons, reared in your homes, blood of your blood, bone of your bone. They have absorbed the ideals of your homes. You have formed and fashioned them. They are your sons. In those malleable, moldable years of their lives you have forever left your imprint upon them."

        The Bible says, "train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Doing this isn't easy, nor does it happen by itself. It takes commitment, sacrifice, and a lot of love. Lay the love on thick, and your children will draw on its depth for the rest of their lives. Love thinly, on the other hand, and they will have shallow reseves for the rest of their lives. It's all a case of how you sow.

        The same principle holds true in every area of life. If you want a lot of tomatoes you plant a lot of tomatoes. If you want God's best for your life, you give your best for all of your life. You commit, you pay the price, you follow through. After all, the stakes are high. We are living for eternity — and we're going to walk into a Kingdom someday. There we will become "the planting of the Lord". How fruitful will that tree be? You can be sure it will bear just as much fruit as we've planted while we lived our moment in space and time. Now is the time to be generous. In everything.

        Lord Jesus, we use Your Word as our prayer and claim the promises You made through Your inspired writer. Help us to sow bountifully so we may reap bountifully. Give us Your grace so we will have sufficiency in all things, having abundance for every good work. Thank You for Your special love to cheerful givers. Amen.