Stampin' Sisters in Christ . . . fragrance

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ where all of our challenges are based upon scripture. This week I am the hostess and I have selected my challenge based on this verse from 2 Corinthians 2:15-16: 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?

This verse reminds me of many things. One image that might help illustrate this verse is the stable scene in the last story of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, entitled The Last Battle. A group of Narnians find themselves tossed into a stable towards the end of the book, a stable where dark, evil things were committed. The dwarves, the king and his friends all are thrown into it by the Calormenes and inside the dwarves find only darkness, damp straw and horse feed.

Lucy and the others find themselves, instead of inside a building, underneath the bright, wide-open skies of Aslan’s lush and fertile country with a vast land before them to explore. Aslan himself is there to be their guide. Despite Lucy’s best efforts to help them, the dwarves refuse to see what is all around them and refuse to listen to her or Aslan. They are trapped inside their own stubbornness in the darkness of a stable, in the darkness of their own minds.

We all know people who have heard the witness of Jesus Christ and refuse to listen. They’re trapped in a dark world but cannot see the light.

But that doesn’t mean we should stop loving them or stop trying. I know because I was one of those people at one time. I didn’t come to Christ until I was fully an adult, 30 years old. Then the light shone through the darkness and the words of the bible became sweet, I couldn’t drink in enough. Today the words still are sweet and their fragrance is life to me.

I am not a bible scholar and I might have this all wrong, but to me, that’s what the last verse is telling us . . . “who is equal to such a task?” Meaning, how can we tell who is going to perceive our words as sweet or as the aroma of death? I don’t think we can. I don’t think we ever stop carrying the fragrance around and sharing it with others, because only God knows who will be saved and who will not and it could be that one more time sharing will turn that person’s heart. We don’t know.

So today’s challenge is to create a card or project that features flowers. Carry your fragrance, carry your light, into the world and share it with others.

I was trying to create a masculine birthday card while still using flowers, hope I've achieved that with the colors I've chosen. Thanks for looking and we hope to see you participate this week. We have a new sponsor as well, Verses and they have a great selection of scripture and image stamps. You can see the rest of the creations by the design team and more information about Verses on our home page, here.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento black
Paper: White, assortment of blues
Other: prismacolor pencils, petite spellbinders scalloped circles, twine, button, rhinestones