“In the inner stillness where meditation leads, the Spirit secretly anoints the soul and heals our deepest wounds.” – John of the Cross
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Thought For the Day: In the Inner Stillness Where Meditation Leads, the Spirit Secretly Anoints the Soul and Heals Our Deepest Wounds
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Anoint, Deepest Wounds, Heal, Inner Stillness, John of the Cross, Meditation, Spiirit, The Soul, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: In Repentance and Rest Is Your Salvation, In Quietness and Trust Is Your Strength But You Would Have None of It
“This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:”
“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.” – Isaiah 30:15 NIV
Posted in First Principles
Tagged First Principles, Isaiah 30:15 NIV, Israel, Quietness, Repentance, Rest, Salvation, Sovereign Lord, Strength, Trust
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Steve Cropper (In Remembrance of…)
Steve Cropper (In Remembrance of...)
by Michael Doyle
Cropper laid the template for rock-n-roll.
Green Onions made the Soul Man cry.
Sitting on the Dock of the Bay consoled our souls
As Otis crashed and the rest of America cried.
He proved that sometimes more is said with less.
With each note in its pocket, no one had to guess.
A flashy solo isn't needed when you know what to say.
The language of rock-n-roll is to feel as you play.
Steve Cropper laid down rock's essential groove.
His licks made the world jump up and move.
Laid out in smooth touching bare necessities,
There wasn't a need to clutter it up with complexity.
With a chaotic bit of madness in its primal purity,
The best of players swagger with style and certainty.
Serving the song just move the tunes along,
Steve stabbed the dissonance into right where it belonged.
Sometimes the best music is filled with just enough space,
Keeping it simple as notes fall into just the right place.
Chugging patterns make sure the timing is precious and tight.
Steve always played it succinctly and simply right.
(c) December 13, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged America, Bare Necessities, Belong, Certainty, Chugging Patterns, Clutter, Complexity, Console, Cry, Dissonance, Essential Groove, Feel, Flashy Solo, Green Onions, Guess, Jump Up, Language, Less, Licks, Madness, More, Move, Note, Otis Redding, Play, Pocket, Poetry and Poems, Precious and Tight, Primal Puriity, Remembrance, Right Place, Rock-n-Roll, Say, Siimple, Simply Right, Sitting On the Dock of the Bay, Space, Steve Cropper, Style, Succinct, Swagger, Template, Timing
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Thought For the Day: Whenever the Government of the United States Shall Break UP, It Will Probably Be In Consequence of A False Direction Been Given To Publick Opinion
“Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction having been given to publick opinion. This is the weak point of our defenses, and the part to which the enemies of the system will direct all their attacks. Opinion can be so perverted as to cause the false to seem the true; the enemy, a friend, and the friend, an enemy; the best interests of the nation to appear insignificant, and trifles of moment; in a word, the right the wrong, and the wrong the right.” – James F. Cooper
First Principles: Families Are the Nurseries of All Societies; and the First Combinations of Mankind
“Families are the Nurseries of all Societies; and the First combinations of mankind.” – Cotton Mather
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Cotton Mather, Family, First Combiniation, First Principles, Mankind, Nursery, Society
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Longview
Longview
by Michael Doyle
Coming the faithful altogether,
Our praise songs get increasingly better.
Our savior in the manger was born
To be our king, as he arrived that Christmas morn.
Humanity often fails in its precision.
We are prone toward sowing our own division.
History shows unity in what we do believe.
Joyfully, we triumph in what it is that we conceive.
Through belief in Christ, we have victory.
This redemption has unfolded throughout history.
All scripture points toward our salvation.
This truth should be viewed with fascination.
In all of David's being so completely broken,
If the plain truth is quietly spoken,
Through it all God's faithfulness sees us through.
God brings us to sanctification in all we do.
Through our long and continuous journey,
The Ark of the Covenant has pointed to our destiny.
Whatever we have seen, in all the good and bad, too,
We find our peace by taking in the longview.
The house of holiness arrived through Christology
Came to fulfill God's love and His noble integrity.
Jesus came as King of Kings for all eternity.
This s the way of gratitude and is our destiny.
From the beginning's Word to our final living end,
Christ's love has been revealing that He is our friend.
Life comes as God's gift, we live to our best every day,
In the amazing grace that has come as our living way.
(c) December 12, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Christmas Morn, Division, Faith, History, Humanity, Joy, Kiing, Longview, Manger, Poetry and Poems, Praise Songs, Savior, Unity, Victory
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First Principles: There Is A Serene and Settled Majesty To Woodland Scenery That Enters Into the Soul and Delights and Elevates It, and Fills It With Noble Inclinations
“There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations.” – Washington Irving
(It has been fundamental since the beginning of our nation to conserve and preserve nature as being good for our national soul. Let’s not forget this as we move forward into the days ahead.)
Thought For the Day: Always Humble Yourself Lovingly Before God and Man, Because God Speaks To Those Who Are Truly Humble of the Heart
“Always humble yourself lovingly before God and man, because God speaks to those who are truly humble of heart, and enriches them with His gifts.” – Pio of Pietrelcina
(Happy National Poinsettia Day! I had wondered what it symbolized. The story is that a poor girl wanted to give a gift to the Lord, but had no gift she thought worthy. An angel came to her angel told her that any gift given from the heart, however humble, is worthy in the sight of the Lord. May we all remember this as Christmas rapidly approaches.)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Enrich, God and Man, His Gifts, Humble of Heart, Humble Yourself, Love, Pio of Pietreleina, Speak, Thought For the Day
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Squandering A Golden Goose
Squandering A Golden Goose
by Michael Doyle
Newsome wants to lead our nation.
What does he offer as inspiration?
With the unwarranted swagger of new urbanism,
His track record trends toward honest pessimism.
Maybe he should reverse California's ruin
To prove he has some idea of what he's doing.
That is something that would inspire
Instead, he annually sets his state on fire.
Opulent California was the American Dream.
Look how she has fallen under a one-party scheme.
Public squalor has taken her off the right track.
It will take a lot of love to bring her back.
High prices from tuition to rent and electricity
Have cast her soul into flaccid adversity.
Despite concentrations of technocratic wealth,
The high rates of poverty show her economic health.
Daily life disintegrated under Democratic greed.
Now, one-third of the state cannot meet its needs.
An elite's narcissism has incubated billionaire socialism.
The Green New Deal and reparations have led to extremism.
Most of the Golden State's wounds are self-inflicted
As legalized crime fills the streets with the addicted.
Every failure is the result of dogmatic ideology.
"Empty promises fulfilled here" became their theology.
California is the Wuhan virus or modern leftism.
Incompetence-driven, there is little cause for optimism.
Once was the day when Californian life was good.
Hollywood's misconceptions proved unable to be withstood.
The dream has faded into an unmitigated nightmare.
The opportunity now is to fall into taxation's snare.
Too much always proves to never be quite enough.
Progressive power grabs have called the workers' bluff.
Decline faded into bureaucratic one-party rule.
Newsome's model for the nation is made for a ship of fools.
Stringent environmentalism is a destroyer of prosperity.
Indeed, the rest of the nation should learn from history.
Luxury beliefs virtue signals the working class purge.
Its lack of realistic goals comes across as unsure.
All of this has created a horrid sense of recompense
Of well-intended policies with dire consequences.
(c) December 11, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged American Dream, Bible, California, Democratic Greed, Faith, Fire, Gavin Newsome, God, Golden Goose, Inspiration, Nation, New Urbanism, One-Party Scheme, Pessimism, Poetry and Poems, Politics, Public Squalor, Right Track, Ruin, Squander, Track Record, Writing
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First Principles: I Ask Sir, What Is the Militia? It Is the Whole People Except For A Few Public Officials
“I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.” – George Mason
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Ask, First Principles, George Mason, Militia, Public Officials, Whole People
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ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER 