This month is just flying past, but then they always do these days. Maybe it is an age thing or maybe it's just that life is lived so frenetically these days that we do not take time to just slowdown, unwind and relax. I think that is why I love colouring so much, it forces you to focus down on something without rushing; very therapeutic.
The optional theme at
Path of Positivity for this month is new beginnings. With Easter just on the horizen my thoughts turned to the greatest opportunity of new beginnings of all - the death and resurection of Jesus. Easter seems to be the poor relation of the major Christian festivals, possibly because it is not as joyful and sparkly as Christmas and lets face it, apart from Easter Eggs, has not really been adopted as a secular holiday. And yet the message of Easter is far more important to the world than Christmas and is more joyful than Christmas. True Good Friday is not a bundle of laughs but have you ever stopped to wonder why the 'good' in Good Friday? It is good because the death of Jesus allowed us to be in a relationship with God. On that cross Jesus took on all sin of the world, past, present and future and he paid the ransom for them, in effect he took our place our punishment for our wrong doings. He gave everyone the chance to take up God's offer of love and enter a relationship with Him. All we have to do is to realise in our hearts that we do not deserve to stand before God because of our sin, to repent and to accept the forgiveness freely offered. It is our choice.
Good Friday is, of course, followed by the greatest celebration of all, Easter Day. It is Easter Day that validates Good Friday in a sense. If Jesus had not raised from the dead then history would have dismissed him as just another good man who paid the price for being so naive, rather than the greatest man who ever lived and the only person to be fully man and fully God. A true celebration of Easter cannot happen without going through Good Friday first, both are part of each other.
So however you spend your Easter my prayer for you is that you will take time out just to slow down and relax and consider how much God loves you in sending his only Son to die for you. God bless you.
If you have stuck with me so far, thank you very much. Before I get completely carried away and forget that I am writing a blog not a sermon I had better show you my card for today. I have used two images from Kitten Scraps and combined the ideas of the first sin of Adam and Eve and the restoration through the cross of Jesus.
Materials used:Kitten Scraps - Adam and Eve Digi Stamp
Kitten Scraps - Easter Bunnies Digi Stamp
X-Press It card
red and purple card
outline cross sticker
Copic pens
A5 card blank
Adam and Eve, the Bible verse and the egg are all printed as one image on X-Press It card and coloured in with Copic pens.
The coloured image is trimmed then matted and layered onto red and purple card before being attached to the front of the card blank.
Finally the peel-off cross sticker is put in the centre of the egg.
I hope that you will join in the fun at Path of Positivity. Remember the challenge is now Anything Goes with an optional theme. Here are all the details about how to enter and the available prizes.
There is so much you can do with the theme Birth of New Beginnings so why not have a go yourself. We have two great sponsors this month, Limited Runs and Kitten Scraps and they are offering prizes. All the information you need on how to enter and how to qualify for the different prizes on offer are below.
In order to have a chance to win the prize for the
Most Inspirational Creation, be sure to explore this idea of the
Birth of New Beginnings. Do you know of anyone about to bring a baby into their world? This would be the perfect time to create a congratulations card. Maybe you know someone who is thinking about adopting a new pet. Perhaps you or someone you know is trying to get a business or even just a concept off the ground. These are all good examples, of 'birth' and all great occasions to celebrate. Whatever direction you take the
birth of new beginnings in, we'd love to part of that journey.
If you do follow the optional theme, be sure to add FT after your name so that we include you in the draw for the prize for Most Inspirational. We also ask that you please leave a comment letting us know how your creation relates to the concept of birth if it isn't readily clear within the design itself or clearly written somewhere else in your post. While you may easily see how the concept of
birth relates to your creation, it may not be as apparent to me or the DT members.
That is why we ask that you clarify it somewhere, whether here or in your blogpost. You can simply write a sentence at the bottom of your post next to the link up for this challenge, if it would be easier. We just need to know how your project ties into the theme. Letting us know, clears up any ambiguity that may exist.
Remember,
in order to be considered eligible for this month's prizes, ALL creations must be positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature.
Prizes on offer this month:
- A $20.00 gift certificate from Kitten Scraps, one of our guest sponsors this month, for the post or project that the team deems most inspiring of the bunch.
- A $10.00 gift certificate from Limited Runs, one of our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.
Thank you for dropping in. Take care.
I would like to enter the following challenges:Addicted to Stamps and More #233 - Holiday (Easter)
Word Art Wednesday #274-275 - Anything Goes
Penny's Crafty Challenge #320 - Anything Goes
