“Liberty is a word which, according as it is used, comprehends the most good and the most evil of any in the world.” – Oliver Ellsworth
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First Principles: Liberty Is A Word Which, According As It Is Used, Comprehends the Most Good and the Most Evil of Any In the World
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Comprehension, First Princples, Liberty, Most Evil, Most Good, Oliver Ellsworth, Word, World
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Thought For the Day: Kindness Is the Language Which the Deaf Can Hear and the Blind Can See
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain
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Tagged Blind, Deaf, Hear, Kindness, Language, Mark Twain, See, Thought For the Day
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Joseph: Into the Lord’s Presence
Joseph: Into the Lord's Presence
by Michael Doyle
God reveals His wonders in wonders spoken.
We who believe do our best though we're broken.
We walk our best in this mystical game.
We do our best to play our part in the fame.
Faithfulness walks among those seeming ordinary,
And by their belief, each becomes extraordinary.
We are surrounded by a crowd of witnesses, then,
Running toward the Lord and away from Satan's sin.
Joseph started as the youngest in a dysfunctional family
And grew into a righteous, upright man walking holy.
God's perspective is always from the upper story,
He keeps His image of us framed within pure glory.
One day, Joseph had a most fantastic dream.
In it, he would be king, surreal as this seems.
As the baby of his family, it was in the presentment
That brought this dreamer his brothers' resentment.
Joseph's story begins as one of rabid jealousy,
One that grew out of the worst of sibling rivalry.
He was sold by his brothers into Egyptian slavery.
Yet, somehow, the Lord turned this into godly history
Difficulties and challenges come to all
As we walk, we listen to the Lord's call,
We join together as a solid community,
And we know that we are part of God's family.
We trust in God in times tough and demanding.
These are the times we rely on God's understanding.
Life must be lived with goodness and honesty.
This brings the rewards that flow from integrity.
We keep focused on Go, in all times, good and bad,
Looking past all that might leave us feeling sad.
Life is filled with too many "one of these days."
This is when we must rely on God and His ways.
Still, as we focus on God, as we are told,
It is our joy to endure as we watch life unfold.
At times, it is hard to have the courage to conceive
That our part of this equation is to trust and believe.
In all of our hopes and good plans made,
We move ahead, living life unafraid.
We love to interpret our most vivid dreams,
And make these as real as they seem.
Whatever answer comes from God's hand,
We must love our best, trust, and understand.
We must focus on the living God and loving one another.
God's plans work when each of us learns to love others.
Our focus determines the outcome of our reality.
There will be darkness until in our capability
We find peace in the middle of life's mystery,
And that will become the course of our living history.
God's faithfulness will fulfill our meaning.
It's how it is in our lives as human beings.
Our commitment to faith and walking life in trust,
Provides the paths that God creates for us as He must.
(c)March 1, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Believe, Beliief, Bible, Broken, Christianity, Courage, Crowd of Witnesses, Difficulties and Challeges, Dream, Dysfunctional Family, Egypt, Endurance, Extraordinary, Faith, Faithfulness, Focus, Glory, God, History, Holy, ibling Rivalry, Iimage, Integriry, Jealousy, Jesus, Joseph, Joy, Lord, One of These ays, Ordinary, Poetry and Poems, pper Story, Precpectve, Presence, Reliace, Resentment, Righteouus, Run, Satan's Sin, Slavery, The Lord, Wonders
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Thought For the Day: The Whole Difference Between Construction and Creation Is Exactly This: That A Thing Constructed Can Only Be Loved After It Is Constructed; But A Thing Created Is Loved Before It Exists
“The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.” – Charles Dickens
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Charles Dickens, Construction, Creationn, Differece, Loved After, Loved Before, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: For We Are God’s Handiwork, Created In Christ Jesus To Do Good Works, Which God Prepared In Advance For Us To Do
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10 NIV
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Advnce, Ceation, Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:10 NIV, First Principles, Go, God, Good Works, Handiwork, Humanity, Preparation
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Contemplation of War
Contemplation of War
by Michael Doyle
There are times to pause and wait,
When a poet breathes and contemplates.
What are the pieces and how each connects,
And what, pray tell, will come next?
It is easy enough to flex and show raw power.
But after initiation, what will control the hour?
To this heart and mind, peace is the preference.
The decision to stand and fight comes with reverence.
There is gravity in this evolving situation.
There is much love for the older Iranian nation.
But there is also the need to never forget
We must take measures to eliminate an endless threat.
Asked from the frozen sea, invisible but within
Needless death is a savage and brutal form of sin.
Still, the fight did not start on our side.
It's boiled over for decades, and at last we collide.
The flames ignite, and poetry saves power from itself,
I sit here poring over volumes from my bookcase shelf.
Knowing the world as being at a point of vivid choice.
A choice in which gravity demands we take up a voice.
In a coronation of troubles, we descend into reality,
Knowing that, however right our cause, there is fatality.
And the hunger for justice will have its terrifying price.
In the end, dear Lord, I pray it will warrant the sacrifice.
(c) February 28, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Connection, Contemplatonn, Control, Decision, Endless Threat, Evolution, Flex, Forget, Gravty, Iran, Israel, Naton, Poet, Poetry and Poems, Preference, Raw Power, Reverence, United States, War
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Thought For the Day: Not Being Able To Govern Events, I Govern Myself
“Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.” – Michel de Montaigne
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Capability, Events, Govern, Michel de Montagne, Self, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: Always Vote For Principle, Though You May Vote Alone, and You May Cherish the Sweetest Reflection That Your Vote Is Never Lost
“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” – John Quincy Adams
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Alone, Cherish, First Principles, John Quincy Adam, Lost, Principle, Reflecttion, Vote
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Bonhoeffer, Part 7
Bonhoeffer, Part 7
by Michael Doyle
Time stands still with its lit fuse,
We wonder why life makes us choose.
We do our best to stop the evil in men,
To give or take life feels a lesser sin.
What would one give to save one's nation?
It seems a trivial cost to lose one's reputation.
A cordial drink shared in a dimly lit room,
The news is shared, though it feels like doom.
When the last chance depends on a quiet prayer,
And all that's left is for the God that's there.
To lend humanity a miracle desperately needed,
Will our vain whispers go to the grave unheeded?
What is left when it appears we see God fail?
Are the few saints left doomed to go to Hell?
The pages of the Bible may be marred with mud,
But our salvation depends only on Christ's blood.
At night, we pray for the respite of God's rescue,
His salvation is needed by all, Christian and Jew.
When the unholy comes in fury to destroy us all,
All that is left is to fall on our knees and call.
We call on Jesus even unto the moment of our death,
As with our final exhale, we humbly give our last breath.
We come to the point where we accept our appointed purpose,
With true humility, we live for the ends of God's service.
There is no avoiding whatever God calls on us to do.
And so we accept whatever cost to remain forever true.
This then is the meaning of our life's long journey,
That we should live as God pleases to meet our destiny.
A holy pastor tends his flock as if it were his family.
Breaking the bread that is the body of Christ's memory,
As it is his charge to do, as he shares communion,
Knowing the wine drunk brings us into holy reunion.
Good men and women share the spirit of the holy ghost,
Sharing together in the last moments of the blessed host.
Step by step, Bonhoeffer walked toward the gallows,
Fearful though he was, he lived bolder than the shadows.
From his life, let us receive the gift born,
That blessed are those who live, die, and mourn.
Blessed are they who have lived pure in their heart,
For they have lived the will of God even as they depart.
Hate, racism, and genocide remain this world's reality.
We Christians owe it to God to live ever more faithfully.
If it is to be done, it is up to all of us bound together,
We must, through the love of God, make this world better.
Silence, in the face of evil, is evil itself unspoken.
We must stand for God's love in every way unbroken.
In every step taken, we spread God's words of love,
And in so doing, serve our lives as if led from above.
(c) February 27, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Better, Bible, Choose, Christ's Blood, Christianity, Communio, Cordial Driink, Destiny, Die, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Doom, Evil, Face of Evil, Fail, Faith, Faithfully, Fuse, Gallow, Genocide, God, God's Love, Hate, Hello, Holy, Humanity, Jesus, Journey, Last Chance, Life, Live, Love of God, M, Mankind, Memory, Miracle, Mourn, Nation, News, Poetry and Poems, Prayer, Purity, Purpose, Racism, Reality, Reputaton, Rescuue, Room, Salvatiion, Service, Shadow, Silence, Sin, The Gift, Time, Together, Unbroken, Vain Whispers, Will of God, Words of Love
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First Principles: A People Who Mean To Be Free Must Be Prepared To Meet Danger In Person, and Not Rely Upon the Fallacious Protection of Armies
“A people who mean to be free must be prepared to meet danger in person, and not rely upon the fallacious protection of armies” – Edmund Randolph
Posted in First Principles
Tagged A People, Army, Danger, Edmund Randolph, Fallacious, First Principles, Free, Indiviual, Preparation, Protection
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ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER 