“One of the most important phases of maturing is that of growth from self-centering to an understanding relationship to others. A person is not mature until he has both an ability and a willingness to see himself as one among others and to do unto those others as he would have them do to him.” – Harry Allen Overstreet
“Kings or parliaments could not give the rights essential to happiness… We claim them from a higher source – from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth. They are not annexed to us by parchments and seals. They are created in us by the decrees of Providence, which establish the laws of our nature. They are born with us; exist with us; and cannot be taken from us by any human power, without taking our lives.” – John Dickinson
Nehemiah (To Fix What's Broken)
by Michael Doyle
We find God's lessons spoken
Serving like Nehemiah to fix what's broken,
Renewing Israel's holy prosperity
Following many years of austerity.
Nebuchadnezzar exiled the Jews to Babylon,
Until allowed to return from the pantheon.
The Jewish people returned from their exile,
As Nehemiah returned God's favor with guile.
A broken heart often begins the story.
It's found in all ages in restoring God's glory.
Beginning with days of mourning and fasting,
Nehemiah was resolutely devoted to God everlasting.
With a holy sense of discontent, something had to change,
And so Nehemiah exchanged comfort to rearrange
Those things taken for granted and in their place.
This was done so that the Jewish people would have God's grace.
In a mournful prayer to the Lord, ever awesome
Nehemiah prayed for the redemption into a holy kingdom.
In this request for redemption and conversation,
God's mercy returned His favor on the Israelite nation.
Prayerful recovery came on the knees of humility
To ask that God show compassion to fallen humanity.
He asked to bring his people back to their homeland,
And God only asked that they follow His holy command.
It seems to find the best sense of satisfaction
Prayer must be followed up on with real action.
This truth, may not always seem so, but is necessary,
And through it, God's people build their legacy.
We must remember the good things as God's grace.
It's a simple matter of humbly recalling our place.
In the toughest times, everyone has their special role.
Repairing what is present in the form of their healing soul.
Ordinary people know that they must take their part.
In every sacrifice is the willingness of the heart.
Together, we rebuild all that has broken.
We work to set right what God has spoken.
All of us together make our great participation,
Knowing faithfulness rebuilds a cherished nation.
Everyone's task is known and fully matters.
The example of our leaders encourages or shatters.
Serving the Lord always comes down to our choice.
Acting as we should in response to God's voice.
It is all in God's good timing that we act,
As we listen to God and obey as a matter of fact.
We know that our good actions will face opposition.
It is an age-old part of this noble proposition.
Evil delights in ridicule in its open attack.
We must not be afraid or be taken aback.
We remember the Lord, and are ready to fight,
Protecting our families, shielded by the light.
Armed in self-protection, God's work goes on.
Doing the Kingdom's work, we stand and labor on.
The rebuilt walls act to protect the people,
While God's commands and law ring from the steeple.
The joy of the Lord becomes our lasting strength
Regardless of how long the day's length.
Our priority must be found in every relationship.
How we love people becomes our greatest worship.
It is how we rebuild our heavenly homes to come
For we know this is the path of our Father's kingdom.
We act on God's holy imprint on everyone's soul,
Though we know we must give up desire for control.
This, then, is the path of humanity's redemption,
And it must be kept steady in our daily contemplation.
Obeying God frees us eternally from being lost.
We know that Christ has already paid that cost.
Knowing this, we must actively respond to God's call,
Facing what is before us, we rebuild God's wall.
(c) August 16, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
“For Noah, preaching 120 years without results meant choosing the hard road year after year. Nehemiah, building the wall of Jerusalem, faced constant harassment by enemies from within and without. We cannot honestly, authentically, reasonably and deliberately serve our Lord without our willingness to accept difficulties and inconveniences.” – K. P. Yohannan
“Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’” – Nehemiah 8:10 NIV
It Takes Money (A Farmer Meets Reality)
by Michael Doyle
The land and you
Are everything to me.
The mortgage is due,
And hellhounds are dogging me.
All that I want to do
Is to farm this land.
A simple, honest farm and you,
But the Lord gave me a steady hand.
It takes money
To raise our family.
One bad harvest isn't funny.
But two might just end you and me.
They call me the hunter, night and day.
Without a bullet wasted, is what they say.
I'll do what I have to do
For the good of me and you.
So, I'll fall in with the law man,
Selling him the use of my gun hand.
Riding down to the Dead Line
Where I'll make more than one rogue mine.
It takes money
To raise our family.
One bad harvest isn't funny.
But two might just end you and me.
Forty acres and this old mule,
It's what it takes to buy the fuel.
At the end of this ole war,
I would have thought our souls were worth more.
I'm going down to the place with no laws.
It's a rough patch filled with outlaws.
Some seek after some kind of paradise,
It's hard to find it between the Devil's lies.
It takes money
To raise our family.
One bad harvest isn't funny.
But two might just end you and me.
So, I'll fall in with the law man,
Lord have mercy on my gun hand.
Riding down to the Dead Line
For the good of us, I'll make that rogue mine.
Death rides hard under tall blue skies,
I can see that hidden in your dusky eyes.
You and me watch the turkey vultures soar,
Our eyes on each other, certain there will be no more.
It takes money
To raise our family.
One bad harvest isn't funny.
But two might just end you and me.
(c) August 15, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
“When we invest in women and girls, we are investing in the people who invest in everyone else.” – Melinda Gates
Let’s not forget how to define one of our nation’s and, indeed, the world’s greatest treasures and resources, right?
“The question is not what rights naturally belong to man, but how they may be most equally and effectually guarded in society.” – Roger Sherman
What Do Critics Know?
by Michael Doyle
Critics are those with little ability,
Often bashing those with greater capability.
While the talented few find their success good,
It's a confusing arrangement seldom understood.
Those without skill find talent self-indulgent,
And seldom suffer to give others acknowledgment.
Unimaginative translates as unwilling to pay to play.
Plant's vocals were convincing with something to say.
The Rolling Stones critics found it trite and redundant
What most of us found as something resplendent.
Four common blokes worked hard to be heard and got.
All these years on, Led Zeppelin is not forgot.
Dazed and confused by what had occurred.
It's as if the critics forgot music is what is heard.
Built with an intensity that is seldom felt,
The improvisation is such that its heat can melt.
As a violin bow runs across Jimmy's six strings,
The harmonics and the feedbsack loop until it all rings.
The riffs were flowing across the smoky room,
Until the noisy musical flowers were certain to bloom.
The Rolling Stones critics found it trite and redundant
What most of us found as something resplendent.
Four common blokes worked hard to be heard and got.
All these years on, Led Zeppelin is not forgot.
There's a lot of magic in the music these boys wrote,
Playing harmonious connect-the-dot, note for note.
Cinematic in the layers crafted as they truly mean,
As stars fell down before the silken screen.
In 1969, the band began its musical aspiration.
By playing hard and fast across the American nation,
There were a lot of miles on that open road -
Each of which came together in all the stories told.
The Rolling Stones critics found it trite and redundant
What most of us found as something resplendent.
Four common blokes worked hard to be heard and got.
All these years on, Led Zeppelin is not forgot.
(c) August 14, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning. – J.B. Priestley
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