“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” – Will Rogers
If you appreciate my work, please buy me a coffee
$3.00
Thought For the Day: If There Are No Dogs In Heaven, Then When I Die I Want To Go Where They Went
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Dogs, Go, Heaven, Thought For the Day, Went, Will Rogers
Leave a comment
Due North
Due North
by Michael Doyle
In these days
When everything has gone frothy
In a million ways
We need those around to be worthy
That's who my friend had always been
The one I knew was good for the win
Ever since back in high school
I knew her to be nobody's fool
Time had passed and slipped on by
We had lost track, her with her smile
And me, with my proverbial sigh
She held onto her style
And when we met again a lifetime past
We were still the same as the last
She said I had the same smile she recalled
I just looked and searched for words that stalled
She was still her but fighting cancer
And I was still searching for an answer
It was good that we connected on Facebook
So that she couldn't turn and look
To see a tear in my eyes as I raised her prayer
Asking the good lord to be more than fair
We kept it simple as we traded quips
Everything would be alright, was the lie on my lips
I looked in on her, watching her progress
How calmly she faced life's ongoing test
She said she had gained a paddleboarder's perspective
And her demeanor seemed all the more reflective
How brave she is and has always been
She was the type who kept cool since way back when
And I was the one constantly searching for an answer
If there was a way to beat it, we'd beat this cancer
Paddleboarding was her peace to keep things real
And hers was a soul that knew how to stay still
The crisis that was hitting her maybe it was surreal
But I know her soul and can guess what she'd feel
The calm, clear water would give way to her glide
As she found her time and her challenge in stride
Life is like this, wherever we are, there we are
Paddling due north, all to reach that true north star
Mindfulness in all of its focus and concentration
And as a friend, I look on with a degree of fascination
She had once said that I had not changed at all
And she is still that girl that I'll always recall
I had been new to the place when we met in the hallway
And now we've reconnected, and it's as if only yesterday
Come Hell or high water, joyous laughter or cancer
She always awes me, and I'll be the boy in search of an answer
(c) March 24, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Alright, Always Been, Answer, Beat It, Brave, Calm, Cancer, Challenge, Come Hell or High Water, Concentration, Connected, Crisis, Days, Degree of Fascination, Demeanor, Due North, Facebook, Feel, Focus, Friend, Frothy, Glide, Good For the Win, Hallway, High School, Is, Joyous Laughter, Keep Things Real, Kept Cool, Lie On My Lips, Lifetime Past, Look, Lord, Lost Track, Million Ways, Mindfulness, More Than Fair, My Friend, Nobody's Fool, Paddleboarder, Peace, Perspective, Poetry and Poems, Prayer, Progress, Reconnected, Reflective, Same As the Last, Same Smile, Searching For An Answer, Sigh, Simple, Smile, Soul, Stalled, Stay Still, Stride, Style, Surreal, Tear, Test, Time, Traded Quips, True North Star, Water, Wherever, Words, Worthy, Yesterday
Leave a comment
First Principles: The Question Is Not What Rights Naturally Belong To Man But How They May Be Most Equally and Effectually Guarded In Society
“The question is not what rights naturally belong to ma, but how they may be most equally and effectually guarded in society.” – Roger Sherman
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Belong, Effectual, Equal, First Principles, Guarded, Natural, Question, Rights, Roger Sherman, Society
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: The Timeless In You Is Aware of Life’s Timelessness. And Knows That Yesterday Is But Today’s Memory And Tomorrow is Today’s Dream
“The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness. And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.” – Kahlil Gibran, in The Prophet
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Aware, Dream, Kahlil Gibran, Know, Life, Memory, The Prophet, Thought For the Day, Timeless, Today, Yesterday, You
Leave a comment
Set Free
Set Free
by Michael Doyle
Life has me trying to find myself
It's not like a book on the shelf
But it's me who I learn how to read
As life comes at me as it makes me bleed
To live in faith brings grace
It's known in the confidence trace
That we can face all that takes place
As we confront the world face-to-face
Children of the most high king
We've brought all that we can bring
As we live our lives every day
Living it in God's holy way
Works of faithfulness in relation
Walking God's affection across our nation
We learn every moment to believe
We are worthy of God's love to receive
Empowered by His loving liberation
We walk His way in every situation
Obedience to this life or loss to sin's death
We live as Christians with every breath
Putting aside the control of impurity
We unshackle from the chains of sin's slavery
For all this, we have gained eternity
This is what our liberating God means to you and me
Redemptive grace works its wonders to see
All the best that can come from me
Working for humanity's best in every test
We then allow God to do the rest
Having been shown that we cannot serve two
We must choose which will master me and you
This is the path and pattern of our responsibility
Living God's ways to our best capability
Shame or confidence forms our life's identity
It's a decision resting on our dependency
Fully embraced, we reach out to the other side
The fullness of our grasp cannot hide
Resurrected, we live to make our way ever forward
Carried to life by Christ, ever toward
Life from death, not by our own effort
But by the Savior to whom we must comport
Our tendencies trend toward occasional sin
This is where we need Jesus as our friend
Faithfully, our salvation is outside of our control
Only Jesus can give himself on behalf of our souls
Transforming our allegiance to Christ's ways
Switching from the worldly to Jesus's love in our days
Works of righteousness are a response to God's love
Radically different, we conform to Heaven above
We find ourselves fully living in it
Knowing that God's ways are brilliant
We abide under His unmatchable majesty
Becoming transformed within God's legacy
(c) March 23, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Affection, Believe, Bible, Bleed, Children, Christianity, Confidence, Confront, Face-To-Face, Faith, Faithfulness, Find Myself, God, Grace, Holy Way, Jesus, King, Life, Nation, Place, Poetry and Poems, Read, Receive, Relation, Set Free, Worthy
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: The Bible Was Not Given For Our Information But For Our Transformation
“The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation.“ – Dwight Moody
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged D.L.Moody, Given, Information, Romans 12:2, The Bible, Thought For the Day, Transformation
Leave a comment
First Principles: Though You Used To Be Slaves to Sin, You Have Come To Obey From Your Heart the Pattern of Teaching That Has Now Claimed Your Allegiance
“But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.” – Romans 6:17 (NIV)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Allegiance, Claim, First Principles, Heart, Obey, Pattern of Teachings, Romans 6:17 (NIV), Sin, Slaves
Leave a comment
It’s Sublime
It's Sublime
by Michael Doyle
Disappearing moments spent
In all of my hours lent
I walk along the wooded trails
Thinking about all of life's tales
I watch with quiet fascination
As all of the glory of creation
Praise His holy name
As he lifts up, even the lame
Walking step after step
I find myself with what's left
Caught up in all the beauty that I see
Grateful for all that's shared with me
Sprung into the summer's feeling
All of my soul opened to revealing
The secrets of the hidden ways
As I wait for my next summer's days
He makes the lame whole again
Our lives know no better friend
In every step that we take
Trembling as our souls awaken to shake
Lifted up in exaltation
My heart knows no hesitation
Holy forever, I live in this situation
My heart constantly filled with elation
Holy is His name, as we call
Mindful that Eden did fall
The Lord in us remains strong
In his wooded church, I belong
Silently finding my way
From the night into the day
Staring at castles in the sky
I keep His majesty in my eye
Home in the woods with my family
I cry out His name, sacred and holy
That our Lord would take the time
To love me and mine is something sublime
(c) March 22, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
First Principles: Strive To Be the Greatest Man In Your Country, and You May Be Disappointed. Strive To Be the Best and You May Succeed. He May well Win the Race That Runs By Himself
“Strive to be the greatest man in your country, and you may be disappointed. Strive to be the best and you may succeed: he may well win the race that runs by himself.” -Benjamin Franklin (1747)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Benjamin Franklin, Country, Disappointed, First Principles, Greatest Man, Run, Self, Strive, Succeed, The Best, Win the Race
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: Politics As A Practice, Whatever Its Professions, Has Always Been the Systematic Organization of Hatreds
“Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. -Henry Adams, historian and teacher (16 Feb 1838-1918)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Climate, Harsh, Hatreds, Henry Adams, Massachusetts, Organization, Politics, Practice, Professions, Systematic, Thought For the Day
Leave a comment
ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER 