Resurrection Day 2025
by Michael Doyle

My youngest daughter worries too much about perfection
But I tell her it's all about the right direction
We can't worry about yesterday or tomorrow
Today's our day to walk in God's grace, not sorrow

The pages read are meant as a heavenly mirror
Not a mallet to whack us down about any error
We put Jesus in front of us in every step we take
Without any of the vanity that leads to heartbreak

On this Resurrection Sunday we reflect on Paul's letter
And how in even Nero's day, the quest was to get better
Like a Christian constitution, the Book of Romans led
To an understanding of God's word beyond what's read

The Father's portrait of the Son, painted by the Spirit
Hung on every word written if we would only hear it
Like a wedding ring's diamond, Chapter 8 carries weight
Sparkling in its answer that God's love anticipates

We live in a world that claws at us for our attention
Often times it feels ripe for conflict and strong tension
I encourage my daughters to lead a godly life every day
As long as we walk in love and do our best in every way

Still, there are times we need to decide what to nurture
And sometimes that lead to necessarily scoffing at culture
Likewise, culture has its scoff at our takes on Christianity
This is the way of the world to engage in the incendiary

It's a challenge in this world to live a Biblical perspective
It's not the donkey or elephant but the lamb in our connective
Laid out and played out in our tissues as we join in conversation
About the needs, wants, and desires in our political nation

We need to watch the unbound feelings that come on too strong
Yet, know we are members of our church's community and belong
Watching with restraint to be mindful of our imperfect humanity
While holding on and protecting our Father's heavenly community

Faith and driving similarly require us to mindful of others
To give grace, and be attentive, and watch out for one another
It's in staying in our land that we prevent fragmentation
It's the Christin peace that heals the world's lamentations

The Bible can be seen as guided by God's peace through grace
We are called to be peacemakers, soul shaking as we embrace
Conversations with the broken world where scoff leads to shimmer
Is often a spider's web that only makes the light dimmer

And it is from this that we must delicately walk redemption
In an all to clever society that we approach in contemplation
Too often we treat others as labeled objects for observing
Rather than the children of our God who are better deserving

This life we lead is one of constantly needing to learn
Always changing and less judging even as we live and discern
We learn to restrain our tongue from life's frustration
Failing to live creation's potential, yet in anticipation

That each of us shares an internal compass of right and wrong
Shared in similar convictions that echo and are felt strong
Hardwired by the truths we feel in our individual souls
Each moment lived is given by God though it feels out of control

Godliness is not random but in the image of the holy and divine
We are not to be frustrated by living as the last in line
All things that pass are worked together for our best good
This is the simple truth that is best as we have understood

This then is the deepest part of a human life's wayward drift
That to follow God and walk in harmony requires us to shift
Changing as we become a part of the resurrected life
Taking on the ways of peace and leaving behind strife

God's eternal love is not only mankind's best resource
But is beyond any doubt the most potent force
And then leveraged more greatly by God's intentionality
To be aimed toward each of us are our best lived reality

In return for this bargain, there is no obligation
God gives us direction without any sense of condemnation
And between humanity and God there is no separation
As the needed bridge was supplied by our blessed redemption

God is for us and not against us who have chosen to believe
It is from God that we have met our requirements and receive
God has decided that we have met our righteous justification
Christ's intercession has brought us together with creation

(c) April 20, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved