To Be Understood

To Be Understood
by Michael Doyle

We get carried away by the moonlight
Forgetting ourselves in the hope of getting it right
The garden walls throw off our shadows
In hopes for what we do not truly know

In all this world's flight or fight distraction
It becomes hard to tell in any attraction
What will come as we show our true face
And we hope that it's one they'll embrace

These are the things we want by every inference
Anxiety hits us at the thought of our differences
There's a certain shyness felt in the touch
When our feelings can grow to be too much

A box of chocolate hints that maybe it's okay
Hurray for you for making it through the day
Inch by inch, we undertake this sacred task
Little by little, we reveal ourselves from the mask

Hoping that special someone will give us a chance
Slowly, we approach that Valentine's romance
We wonder if, for once, we'll be seen for our good
And hope that, for once, maybe we'll be understood

(c) February 4, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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First Principles: Tyrants Accomplish Their Purposes Without Resistance, Is, By Disarming the People, and Making It An Offense To Keep Arms

“One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms.” – Justice Joseph Story

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Thought For the Day: It Takes A Lot of Time To Be A Genius, You Have To Sit Around So Much Doing Nothing, Really Doing Nothing

“It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.” – Gertrude Stein, novelist, poet, and playwright (3 Feb 1874-1946)

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Rumor Is…

Rumor Is...
by Michael Doyle

Rumor is that happiness
Is not a preconceived moment of bliss
But a journey through the years
Taken awhile with all of your peers

Who feel as though they've lived theirs right
While yours has been a constant fight
Faceless and somehow nameless
They pretend themselves blameless

As if it turns out the way to live
Of course, you're supposed to instantly forgive
As if the voices hadn't said
To ignore those shouting in your head

This war of theirs is not yours
And while peace and understanding are cures
Adequate to fix this conflict's tasks
It turns out they didn't bother to ask

Your opinions should be those they've given
And if you blink, it won't be forgiven
It's a heck of world in which we're living
When even Christians stumble over forgiving

(c) February 3, 2025 Michael Doyle
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First Principles: What Lies Behind Us and What Lies Before Us As Are Tiny Matters Compared To What Lies Within Us

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Thought For the Day: Quietly Endure, Silently Suffer and Patiently Wait

“Quietly endure, silently suffer and patiently wait.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

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Under the Banner of God

Under the Banner of God
by Michael Doyle

Solid in the righteousness of divinity
The Bible spells out God's theology
It is rooted in its stubborn conviction
Of which there is no better indication

Than the truth that is vividly told
As God's glorious story openly unfolds
There is only one way to get right
That is to walk by the shine of God's light

Not our wills but God's will be done
Served as we worship His only begotten Son
The gospel serves up to us our peace and grace
This is the simply put truth that we embrace

Buckets of other beliefs cannot hold
The saintly lives our God has foretold
We are best off following the grand design
It is best lived following the divine

Random and wobbly the other paths are rough
We find that indifference is simply not enough
Stoics and other philosophers grasp at morality
Only to find that without grace, it leads to fatality

To follow God's code is not a matter of pride
But instead to follow God's law inside
Justice, logic, and adherence to age old truth
Are the principles we follow from our youth

Where we start from determines are walk as right
To be the the guiding force behind God's light
We must put into play the holy perspective
Through this show we have rightly applied God's correctives

Otherwise, we are varnished but without real substance
We must follow the true path of God's permanence
Or we will find that we come up fairly shallow
We want to be the light but turn out merely shadow

Circumcision and baptism are outward reflections
Of what is lived as inward transformation
Paul came stepping on everyone's toes
But he was only saying what everybody knows

The critical journy is without any mistake
Beginning with the recognition of the path we take
We come looking for hope and spiritual healing
Knowing God's redemptive peace is more than a feeling

We undertake the discipline of discipleship
As we follow through on the paths of worship
All to follow God as we respond to His holy call
We find the truest love is found within His law

Inward and outward, our journey will hit a wall
Invoking the spiritual crisis that is God's call
To breakthrough and reach out as is right
Christ's love brings our darkness into heavenly light

In all the colors of God's divine expression
Praise belongs and is given with our impression
As we pray that God's kingdom duly comes
And our hearts allow our God's will to be done

(c) February 2, 2025 Michael Doyle
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Thought For the Day: The Best Way To Renew Thought Is To Outside the Human Imagination

“The best way to renew thought is to go outside the human imagination.” —Bernard Werber

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First Principles: Do Not Conform To the Pattern of This World, But Be Transformed By the Renewing of Your Mind

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” – Romans 12:2

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In This House of Worship

In This House of Worship
by Michael Doyle

In this house of worship
We praise the relationship
Here as we begin our healing
Wrapped within the Word revealing

The miracles come at an outpour
And we know there will be more
Coming alive with Jesus's love
We follow the ways of Heaven above

We fear nothing
Believing we have everything
In our Lord's holy name
We are freed from shame

This is the God in whom I believe
Knowing that all that I conceive
Can come to it's fruition
Across His favored nation

There are so many miracles there
That it is abundantly clear
Kneeling, as we do, at His feet
We will know victory, and not defeat

(c) February 1, 2025 Michael Doyle
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