Copying Imperfections

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A gentleman had a lovely Chinese plaque with curious raised figures upon it. One day it fell from the wall on which it was hung, and was cracked right across the middle. Soon after, the gentleman sent to China for six more of these valuable plates, and to ensure an exact match, sent his broken plate as a copy. To his intense astonishment, when six months later he received the six plates, and his injured one, he found the Chinese had so faithfully followed his copy, that each new one had a crack right across it. If we imitate even the best of men, we are apt to copy their imperfections, but if we follow Jesus and take Him as our example, we are sure of a perfect pattern.

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