As I’ve been standing at my kitchen sink fixing breakfast in the mornings, or doing the dishes in the afternoons, there is a bright spot of color off in the forest that keeps catching my eye.
Drawn by curiosity I decided to go back there to see what it was.
Lo and behold … it’s a rhododendron blooming!
Isn’t it pretty!
As I stood there surrounded by forest greenery, “lit up” with a splash of color from the blooming rhododendron, the verse popped into my mind: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16
Those who are followers of Jesus Christ “light up” their corner of the world the same way this rhododendron is “lighting up” this corner of the forest. The rhododendron isn’t intentionally trying to make a show. It’s just being what God made to be and blooming the way God made it to bloom. And in so doing, it is “lighting up” the forest.
In another completely different part of the forest, another splash of color is “lighting” up a far-off corner and catching my attention. Can you see two little spots of white way back there in the far corner?
Whenever I look out my back windows my attention is caught by those two little spots of white color. I had to explore to see what they were.
Lo and behold! … it’s a white rhododendron! Isn’t that gorgeous!
This is a rhododendron hubby moved back to this corner last year. I don’t think it has ever bloomed before. I didn’t even know it was white. And yet, here it is … “lighting up” this far corner of the forest.
Jesus said: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16
If we are a follower of Jesus Christ, Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit to indwell and live within us. The Holy Spirit “lights up” our life with the love of Jesus! The Holy Spirit “lights up” our life with the joy of Jesus. The Holy Spirit “lights up” our life with the kindness of Jesus.
And the “light of Jesus” shining through our life catches the attention of others, way off far away. “What is that??” they wonder. They must explore and have a look.
“Hmmmm,” that’s interesting. That “light” is coming from a “blooming life.”
Just two little blooms. But what an impact they are having.
Shine for Jesus! Let the “light of Jesus” shine through the “blooms” of your life. It’s having an impact as it “lights up” the far corners of the “forest.”
