“Success is not measured by what a man accomplishes, but by the opposition he has encountered and the courage with which he has maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” – Charles Lindbergh
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Thought For the Day: Success Is Not Measured By What A Man Accomplishes, But By the Opposition He Has Encountered and the Courage With Which He Has Maintained the Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds
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Tagged Accomplishment, Charles Lindbergh, Courage, Encounter, Maasure, Mankind, Odds, Opposition, Struggle, Success, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: We Have Staked the Future of All Our Political Constitutions Upon the Capacity of Each of Ourselves To Govern Ourselves According To the Moral Principles of the Ten Commandments
“We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.” – James Madison
Thought For the Day: Be Who You Are and Say What You Feel, Because Those Who Mind Don’t Matter and Those Who Matter Don’t Mind
“Those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.” – Bernard Baruch
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Tagged Bernard Baruch, Feel, Matter, Mind, Say, Thought For the Day, Who You Are
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First Principles: By Doing Good With His Money, A Man, As It Were, Stamps the Image of God Upon It, and Makes It Pass Current For the Merchandise of Heaven
“By doing good with his money, a man, as it were, stamps the image of God upon it, and makes it pass current for the merchandise of heaven.” – John Rutledge
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Current, Doing Good, First Principles, Heaven, Image of God, John Rutledge, Merchandise, Money, Stamp
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Convergence
Convergence
by Michael Doyle
True to each other down to the soul,
We wanted each other to meet our goals.
The sculpture of each became beautiful.
We encouraged each other into being wonderful.
You know, go ahead and shape me
As you go ahead to make me
Into the reflection you wanted to see
In this love, I found possibility.
We used to talk about divergence,
But time has brought us to convergence.
We chipped away at the difference
Until we held each other in reverence.
We approached this with magic’s levity,
Sucked into each other with the gravity.
We don’t mean it so much as a correction.
But unintentional artistry loves reflection.
Times spent getting to know each other,
Becomes time spent in grooming one another.
We never spoke in terms of subtle baselines,
But we blended without words like clever mimes.
We used to talk about divergence,
But time has brought us to convergence.
We chipped away at the difference
Until we held each other in reverence.
We all seek connection and to be understood.
These are things we see as fitting good.
It’s a little bit me and a lot of being you,
Whittled away into a magnum opus that feels true.
In the commonality that has brought us together,
The more we grow, the more we become meshed better.
Perceptions of each other over life’s distractions
Are found to lead us to our mutual satisfactions.
We used to talk about divergence,
But time has brought us to convergence.
We chipped away at the difference
Until we held each other in reverence.
(c) August 24, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Beautiful, Chiip Away, Convergence, Couples, Difference, Divergence, Goal, Love, Make, Poetry and Poems, Possibility, Reflection, Relationship, Reverence, Sculpture, Shape, Soul, Wonderful
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Thought For the Day: Let the Consequences Be What They Would: I From This Time Determined That I Would Never Rest Until I Had Effected Its Abolition
“So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the [slave] trade’s wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition. Let the consequences be what they would: I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition.” – William Wilberforce
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Tagged Abolition, Consequences, Deterimination, Effect, Enormous, Mind, Rest, Slave Trade, Thought For the Day, Time, William Wilberforce
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First Principles: Religion Is the Only Solid Base of Morals and That Morals Are the Only Possible Support of Free Governments
“Religion is the only solid Base of morals and that Morals are the only possible Support of free governments.” – Gouverneur Morris
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Tagged First Principles, Free Government, Gouverneur Morris, Morals, Possible, Religion, Solid Base, Support
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Isaiah (What He Said)
Isaiah(What He Said)
by Michael Doyle
Not so much for what he did, but what he said.
He's quoted to this day for what's in our heads.
Seven hundred years before Christ's holy birth,
He foretold what now brings us our mirth.
At least to us seekers of God in all earnestness,
Isaiah's prophecies are the path to faithfulness.
His very words are the catalyst of all history,
Following Jesus delivers us to sweet eternity.
The Book of Isaiah is almost the fifth Gospel.
It tells of Jesus's coming and does it well.
Sixty-six chapters tell of man's consequence,
Twenty-two chapters distinguish man's response.
Our personal encounters with God bring change
As holiness pours into our souls to rearrange
Those things that make each of us stumble,
Heeding the prophecies delivers us from our trouble.
Godliness restores the rule of peace and prosperity.
These are the ways that people walk for certainty.
Our God is always all-knowing and in control.
I, for one, let Him be the keeper of my soul.
Still, there is a gap between God and man.
It requires repentance, if only we truly can.
And yet, the gap is bigger than we can overcome
Only God's grace allows us into God's kingdom.
We can compare ourselves to how others walk,
But that sort of talk is simply useless talk.
There is only one hope for the human race
That is our redemption through God's good grace.
Jesus, as the suffering servant, came to pay our cost.
It is because of His sacrifice that we are not lost.
Yet still, each of us finds ways to go constantly astray,
Falling short of God's glory, we are redeemed as we pray.
Otherwise, the penalty for our sin is to suffer death.
Instead, we know God's tender mercy until our last breath.
These fall into temptations that we must overcome,
Only through the Lord's Word do we gain His kingdom.
In Isaiah, the Lord as our scapegoat is revealed.
Only through Jesus' suffering were we all healed.
Our sins cannot be self-helped into being undone,
Instead, these wrongs are covered by the Son.
The enormity of the gift that God has given
Begs the necessity of asking to be forgiven.
Our response requires our immersion.
This act of baptism symbolizes our conversion.
Atonement, one by one, is our sanctification.
This is clear in every Biblical explanation.
Through God, each of us can do as we're intended to do.
This is the path of God in following what is true.
(c) August 23, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Bible, Catalyst, Christ, Christianity, Consequence, Dead Sea Scrolls, Earnestness, Eternity, Faith, Faithfulness, Fifth Gospel, God, History, Holy Birth, Isaiah, Jesus, Phrophesy, Poetry and Poems, Resp;onse
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Thought For the Day: What! Get To Heaven On Your Own Strength? Why, You Might As Well Try To Climb To the Moon On A Rope of Sand
“What! Get to heaven on your own strength? Why, you might as well try to climb to the moon on a rope of sand!” – George Whitefield
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Tagged Climb, George Whitefield, Heaven, Moon, Own Strength, Rope, Sand, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: For To Us A Child Is Born, To Us A Son Is Given…And He Will Be Called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah 9:6 NIV
ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER 