“I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.” – Romans 16:17 NIV
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First Principles: Watch Out For Those Who Cause Divisions and Put Obstacles In Your Way That Are Contrary To the Teaching You Have Learned. Keep Away From Them
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Contrary, Division, First Principles, Keep Away, Lean, Obstacle, Romans 16:17 NIV, Teaching, Watch Out
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Thought For the Day: A Child of God Should Be A Visible Beatitude For Joy and Happiness, and A Living Doxology for Gratitude and Adoration
“A child of God should be a visible beatitude for joy and happiness, and a living doxology for gratitude and adoration.” – Charles Spurgeon
Words Well Spent
Words Well-Spent
by Michael Doyle
Don't wait until the end
To learn to live as a father and a friend.
Now and then are the moments to seize.
This lesson doesn't come with fancy degrees.
It begins and ends by saying I love you,
And living each moment between like you do.
There's no guarantee that will lessen the tears,
But it will create a bond of joy for your years.
Three words that, when well-spent,
Will add zest to the time lent.
Said in a whisper or happy shout.
This is what a well-intended life is all about.
Every loving hello births its own echo.
Love is love like a dream of shadows.
A writer is best when speaking from the soul.
It's the etiquette of writing what you know.
It's peaceful, and yet very direct,
Even if there's an error, it couldn't be more correct.
Whether it's sheer joy or utter catastrophe,
Love spoken truthfully is just as it needs to be.
Three words that, when well-spent,
Will add zest to the time lent.
Said in a whisper or happy shout.
This is what a well-intended life is all about.
Fair words exchanged are from love, not labor.
Maybe that's the secret of being a good neighbor.
Tipping toes in the best part of life's ocean,
It would be the simple truth of shared devotion.
We live our lives as best as we are capable,
Knowing anything mentionable is manageable.
Life and death, they both deeply depend,
Tightly and rightly on whom we call our friend.
Three words that, when well-spent,
Will add zest to the time lent.
Said in a whisper or happy shout.
This is what a well-intended life is all about.
(c) November 21, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Dream of Shadows, Echo, End, Etiquette, Father, Friend, Guarantee, Hello, I Love You, Joy, Lesson, Moments, Poetry and Poems, Shout, Sould, Tears, Well Spent, Whisper, Words, Writer, Writing, Zest
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Thought For the Day: People Will Come To Love Their Oppression, To Adore the Technologies That Undo Their Capacities To Think
“People will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” – Aldous Huxley
(Take care when it comes to AI and even programs like Grammarly. As people, we have a duty to think and be ourselves, not someone else’s idea of perfection. True beauty of form and person is found in our imperfections as much as our ideal forms. The brave new world once ‘nightmared’ about is in its formative stages.)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Adoration, Aldous Huxley, Capacity, Love, Oppression, People, Technology, Think, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: To Be Good, and Do Good, Is the Whole Duty of Man Comprised In A Few Words
“To be good, and do good, is the whole duty of man comprised in a few words.” – Abigail Adams
Posted in First Principles
Tagged First Principles, Mankind, Abigail Adams, Be Good, Do Good, Whole Duty, Few Words
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Making the World Better
Making the World Better
by Michael Doyle
Don't stand there silent like a rock
When your feelings need you to talk.
Give yourself permission to find a way
For you to say what you need to say.
Your feelings need to find a way out -
To be talked about without raising a shout.
It's the music within a body's soul,
And you need to find a way to let it flow.
There's a point to all of this brokenness.
It builds up inside, erupting into outspokenness.
All the love that shapes us is wise.
We touch on this again in a thought exercise.
Silence is hard when we intend to make a connection.
We are overwhelmed with our powerful emotions.
Looking out into a world beyond all of our fears.
We'll find our way through despite our tears.
It's a scary world that we live in.
It's filled with corruption and dark sins.
The worst of it is all of our own mistakes.
We live through a lifetime of heartbreaks.
Fear becomes anger and turns into words sadly said.
It's often the opposite of what was held in our heads.
It's a pick-me-up game filled with false blame
As we are all walking wounded and slightly lame.
The painful truth is that we're all busy dying.
I try to say that plainly, without too much sighing.
It's only that some of us are dying before the others.
I'll lead the way, torch in hand, my sisters and brothers.
Hold me, lonely here in the middle of this cold night.
Prayers are whispered as we hold to life so tight.
It's all about the holding it together.
It's how we'll make this world a little better.
(c) November 21, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Anger, Brokenness, Connection, Corruptioin, Emotion, Erupt, Exerciise, False Blame, Fear, Feelngs, Flow, Heartbreaks, Lame, Love, Making the World Better, Mistake, Music, Opposite, Outspokenness, Overwhelmed, Painful Truth, Permission, Poetry and Poems, Poiint, Rock, Say, Scary World, Shape, Shout, Silence, Silent, Sins, Soul, Talk, Tears, Walking Wounded, Way, Wise, Words, World
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Thought For the Day: If Only 7 Percent of the 2 Billion Christians In the World Would Care For A Single Orphan In Distress, There Would Effectively Be No More Orphans
“If only 7 percent of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for a single orphan in distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. If everybody would be willing to simply do something to care for one of these precious treasures, I think we would be amazed by just how much we could change the world.” – Steven Curtis Chapman
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged 2 Billion, 7 Perscent, Christian, Distress, Orphan, Steven Curtis Chapman, Thought For the Day, World
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First Principles: The Word of God Must Be Read and Heard With Diligence That So You May Arrive To the Knowledge That Is Needful For You
“The Word of God must be Read and Heard with Diligence that so you may arrive to the Knowledge that is needful for you.” – Cotton Mather
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Cotton Mather, Diligence, First Principles, Heard, Knowledge, Needful, Read, Word of God
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A Reverence For Hurts Felt
A Reverence For Hurts Felt
by Michael Doyle
It's never easy on the children. Is it?
Perfection is not really a standard. Is it?
There is so much to be worked out,
Between the fears, the tears, and the doubts.
It's too bad about the power of animosity.
It's a terrible cancer that destroys a family.
It seems even with an approaching Thanksgiving,
That there's not enough appreciation for forgiving.
There are a lot of one-too-many wrongs done.
The good Lord knows it's hard to be a daughter or a son.
It feels near impossible to know if you've made the measure.
But if you could only look in a father's heart to his treasure.
You would feel until you knew of his love.
But earthly love never measures up to the love from above.
It doesn't matter how much a father might pray.
There is no escaping the failures of yesterday.
I sit with tears in my eyes as I write this page.
Nothing will ever do away with omissions or moments of rage.
If only I could undo the things said or that I have done.
I pray this earnestly to the Father and the Son.
Holding on to the anger does no one any good.
Maybe that's the one thing in life to be understood.
Only love, real love, can make the difference.
I say this with the sincerest reverence.
You can never run away from yesterday.
It follows your tomorrow, whatever you might say.
In this pain, you eventually feel the reflection.
All the needed thoughts to finally make the connection.
Letting go of grief and anger at life's giving
You less than wanted as you approach Thanksgiving,
Maybe this is the hard of doing that brings appreciation.
All the moments together feel as if leading to dedication.
There's a realization that God puts us where we belong,
Like notes in the pocket of some forgotten song.
We are exactly where we are meant to be
For the knock on the door of opportunity.
It's in the lessons we think and feel
When we talk of hurt feelings made real.
It's hard to remember all the things we might contend
That has made us turn to see Jesus as our truest friend.
(c) November 20, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Appreciation, Children, Daughter, Difference, Done, Doubt, Earnest, Failure, Faith, Family, Father, Fear, Felt, Forgiving, Hurt, Jesus, Life, Lord, Love, Measure, Omission, Perfection, Poetry and Poems, Power of Animosity, Pray, Rage, Reverence, Son, Starndard, Tears, Thanksgiving, Treasure, Understood, Worked Out, Writing, Wrongs
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First Principles: I Shall Not Pass This Way Again
“I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.” – William Penn
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Defer, Do, Do It Now, Expect, First Principles, Good, Kindness, Life, Neglect, Once, Pass This Way Again, Show, William Penn
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ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER 