Addicted to CAS Challenge No 32 Card

I found a small gap of time to fit in a few creative moments this weekend and paired up with Judy to make a card for the:

Addicted to Clean and Simple Challenge No. 32

And so, keeping this (fairly) simple.  I know, I know - I’m really having to work hard on this idea for simple - but I’ll get it yet.  At any rate, here’s my take on this challenge, even if it might be a bit too fussy.

If I were to re-attempt this in a more simple manner I would not have gotten carried away with the layers, the stitching - but I just could not resist.  I think I got carried away haha!

and perhaps I would have slapped my own hands when it came to the embossing, the shading in the corners with Tombow markers and even adding the pearls. 

But still…

Today’s “one small thing” is - backlighting.

I caught this orchid yesterday morning all lit up for a brief time in the sun’s first early morning rays.

There is something so very evocative about backlighting. The definition of backlighting, according to Wikipedia, is the process of illuminating from the back.  In other words, the light source  and the viewer are facing each other and the subject is in between.  This causes the subject to appear lighter in some areas and darker in others - and can be quite dramatic.  It causes you to appreciate your subject in a whole new way.

I often think of this in a spiritual context.  You are the viewer, Jesus is the light, while I hope to be the subject, but so see-through from His light that I might just be a trick of the eye  -  my desire is to be “less of me”

‘He must become greater; I must become less.’

John 3:30

So that, as I walk closer to Him, any beauty and goodness you see in me, is just me being “back-lit” by the light of the Lord. 

I found this poem today which I hope inspires you, as it did me:

 

The Beauty Of Jesus In Me

 

my life touched yours for a very brief space,

And what, oh, what did you see?

A hurried, a worried and anxious face,

Or the beauty of Jesus in me?

 

Was I steeped so deep in the ways of the world

That you couldn’t detect one thing

That would set me apart and show that my heart

Belonged to the Heavenly King?

 

Did I carry no banner for Jesus my Lord,

Not one thing at all that could show

Whose side I am on in this glorious fight?

I am His! But you wouldn’t know.

 

Forgive me! And if we should e’er meet again

Upon earth, oh, I pray you will see

No mark of this world, but His banner unfurled,

And the beauty of Jesus in me!

 

~  Alice Hansche Mertenson

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