我們的孩子還小的時候，鄰居家有一棵高大的銀楓樹，孩子們最喜歡接住從樹上落下的「直升機種子」。銀楓樹的種子長得就像一對翅膀，在春末的時候，它們就會像直升機的旋翼槳葉一樣旋轉落地。這些種子飄下來不是為了要飛翔，而是要落到土裡，生長成樹。

耶穌在被釘十架前，對祂的跟隨者說：「人子得榮耀的時候到了。……一粒麥子不落在地裡死了，仍舊是一粒；若是死了，就結出許多子粒來。」（約翰福音12章23-24節）

門徒希望耶穌既為彌賽亞，就當被人尊崇，但主耶穌卻為我們死，讓我們能夠因為相信祂，罪得赦免、生命得著改變。身為耶穌的跟隨者，我們聆聽祂的話語：「愛惜自己生命的，就失喪生命；在這世上恨惡自己生命的，就要保守生命到永生。若有人服事我，就當跟從我；我在哪裡，服事我的人也要在那裡；若有人服事我，我父必尊重他。」（25-26節）

藉由直升機種子，我們可以再次思想救主耶穌所行的奇事，祂為我們受死，使我們能為祂而活。

When our children were young, they loved trying to catch the “helicopter seeds” that fell from our neighbor’s silver maple trees. Each seed resembles a wing. In late spring they twirl to the ground like a helicopter’s rotor blades. The seeds’ purpose is not to fly, but to fall to earth and grow into trees.

Before Jesus was crucified, He told His followers, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. . . . [U]nless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:23–24).

While Jesus’s disciples wanted Him to be honored as the Messiah, He came to give His life so we could be forgiven and transformed through faith in Him.  As Jesus’s followers, we hear His words, “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me” (vv. 25–26).

Helicopter seeds can point us to the miracle of Jesus, the Savior, who died that we might live for Him.