We had planted a new shrub over against some old geraniums growing just below the top of the bank. The new shrub was just a couple of handspans tall, it was bushy and had several stems shooting up from the base.

It was a picture of health and put on some new growth quite quickly. As usual, I walked by every day to see how it was going and rejoiced in its signs of health and well-being.

This morning I walked by it again and, joy of joy, found a lovely dusty pink flower peeping out from the branches. It surprised me and I was so excited I called to my husband, ‘Look! It is already in flower!’

My husband looked closely. Something was wrong. This flower was nothing like the flower the bush was supposed to have. In fact, this flower was the flower of a different plant. It was not born of the new plant, it was an unobserved branch of the old geranium peeking in between the stems of the new plant.

I was not too disappointed, because it was exciting to see how easily the old flower brought life and joy with it to the new plant. In fact, it transformed the plant.

The same thing happens when we put on the likeness of Jesus. We glow with a radiance that is not our own, it is his life blossoming through the branches of our lives.

When others see it, they do not really see you and me, they see the likeness of Jesus flowing through our branches.

So allow yourself to be planted beside the old, long-standing gems so that they can shine through you and you take on the likeness of the One who planted them there.

When you are lit by those ancient gems, Jesus said you are a light for all the world to see, and ‘When a lamp is lit, it is not put under the meal-tub, but on the lampstand where it gives light to everyone in the house,’ Matthew 5:15.

Elizabeth Price reprice@dragnet.com.au