By Jenny Spouge.

Consider the bougainvillea.
It grows, throwing a riot of flaming colour
across the dry, dusty, barren landscape.
When all seems dead and brown,
it grows,
not just alive,
but vivid, vibrant, shouting aloud.
And the drought cannot overcome it.

A message for us, in this, perhaps,
when our world seems grey and drear,
insane, caught up in a tangled web of lies and intrigue,
hatred and disappointments.
Then, even then, there is life,
the spark of Christ within us,
not just alive,
but shouting, bursting out
with joy and singing,
to overcome,
to celebrate.

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✏️ Jenny Spouge is a Methodist presbyter (currently without appointment) exploring the links between art and spirituality. Being able to engage in creativity hugely aids Jenny’s well-being and she finds she needs to make time and space for this. Jenny has led creative retreats and worked with a minister on sabbatical to facilitate engagement with spirituality and faith through art-making and hope to expand this area of ministry further. Jenny can be found on her facebook page and very occasionally – and not for years on her blog.

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💬 All views are those of the author, and copyright belongs to them. This has been presented as provided to thebrokenchurch.

📧 If you’re interested in sharing a little hope between 5th March and 17th April 2025, get in touch (abrokenpastor@gmail.com) with your contribution. It can be an article, blog post, artwork, poem, song, photo… there are no rules others than it be your original work and offers a little bit of hope.