My youngest daughter worries too much about perfection But I tell her it's all about the right direction We can't worry about yesterday or tomorrow Today's our day to walk in God's grace, not sorrow
The pages read are meant as a heavenly mirror Not a mallet to whack us down about any error We put Jesus in front of us in every step we take Without any of the vanity that leads to heartbreak
On this Resurrection Sunday we reflect on Paul's letter And how in even Nero's day, the quest was to get better Like a Christian constitution, the Book of Romans led To an understanding of God's word beyond what's read
The Father's portrait of the Son, painted by the Spirit Hung on every word written if we would only hear it Like a wedding ring's diamond, Chapter 8 carries weight Sparkling in its answer that God's love anticipates
We live in a world that claws at us for our attention Often times it feels ripe for conflict and strong tension I encourage my daughters to lead a godly life every day As long as we walk in love and do our best in every way
Still, there are times we need to decide what to nurture And sometimes that lead to necessarily scoffing at culture Likewise, culture has its scoff at our takes on Christianity This is the way of the world to engage in the incendiary
It's a challenge in this world to live a Biblical perspective It's not the donkey or elephant but the lamb in our connective Laid out and played out in our tissues as we join in conversation About the needs, wants, and desires in our political nation
We need to watch the unbound feelings that come on too strong Yet, know we are members of our church's community and belong Watching with restraint to be mindful of our imperfect humanity While holding on and protecting our Father's heavenly community
Faith and driving similarly require us to mindful of others To give grace, and be attentive, and watch out for one another It's in staying in our land that we prevent fragmentation It's the Christin peace that heals the world's lamentations
The Bible can be seen as guided by God's peace through grace We are called to be peacemakers, soul shaking as we embrace Conversations with the broken world where scoff leads to shimmer Is often a spider's web that only makes the light dimmer
And it is from this that we must delicately walk redemption In an all to clever society that we approach in contemplation Too often we treat others as labeled objects for observing Rather than the children of our God who are better deserving
This life we lead is one of constantly needing to learn Always changing and less judging even as we live and discern We learn to restrain our tongue from life's frustration Failing to live creation's potential, yet in anticipation
That each of us shares an internal compass of right and wrong Shared in similar convictions that echo and are felt strong Hardwired by the truths we feel in our individual souls Each moment lived is given by God though it feels out of control
Godliness is not random but in the image of the holy and divine We are not to be frustrated by living as the last in line All things that pass are worked together for our best good This is the simple truth that is best as we have understood
This then is the deepest part of a human life's wayward drift That to follow God and walk in harmony requires us to shift Changing as we become a part of the resurrected life Taking on the ways of peace and leaving behind strife
God's eternal love is not only mankind's best resource But is beyond any doubt the most potent force And then leveraged more greatly by God's intentionality To be aimed toward each of us are our best lived reality
In return for this bargain, there is no obligation God gives us direction without any sense of condemnation And between humanity and God there is no separation As the needed bridge was supplied by our blessed redemption
God is for us and not against us who have chosen to believe It is from God that we have met our requirements and receive God has decided that we have met our righteous justification Christ's intercession has brought us together with creation
(c) April 20, 2025 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Though our struggles are many, these do not exceed God’s blessings and love for us all. May there be peace and joy in the lives of every reader of this blog, and indeed for all of humanity. Let’s invoke hope and love on this day of remembrance of our Father’s sacrifice of Jesus that we may all be redeemed. Happy Resurrection Day to one and all!!
At war's end and freed from fascism Europe breathed with American optimism Barbarism had been thoroughly defeated And a brave new world was timidly greeted
The Marshall Plan was the discovery That would lead to economic recovery It was a masterstroke of economic strategy It would restore Europe to liberty and dignity
After an era of hellish and savage destruction America reseeded Europe with tools of construction The goal was Christian moral order as the law And the rights of mankind was the dutybound call
Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of disunity Europe created NATO and founded economic community It was not just a matter of convenience but duty But this time seems to have past irresolutely
Europe has sunk to a technocratic apostasy That has long shunted our commonality of society It might be that one day we might emerge again as friends But for now, this common path has its temporal end
Post-national and godlessly secular in its worldview Our moral grammar no longer finds it passage through Universalist humanism has strained the welfare state Until the allies we had seem destined to an unkind fate
Culturally leftward, the EU become also mercantilist Disadvantaging America, our allies have become protectionist In treated agreement after agreement, there are costs All of which comes at America's lost until alliance is lost
Despite Germanic Zeitenwende, inertia has had consequence Europe continues to be a strategic free rider without recompense Our so called allies have maintained their soft-power diplomacy While America's hard power continues to underwrite the security
In terms of game theory, there has been a loss of equilibrium The moral-political vision is lost to the point of absurd-ium An ally who continuously stabs one is the back is not an ally There is a heavy dose of dysfunction in our once family
America's choices are now conditionality, restructuring or an out Europe's duplicity has left the US cautious and in doubt America's security requires shifting eastward for it defense And requiring old partners to do more than live in pretense
These points made are not the abandonment of solidarity But a cry into the winds of change and of truest clarity The spiritual bond has frayed into quiet hostility Mutual interest and shared assumption are needed for civility
(c) April 19, 2025 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Heading out of Australia to escape this Aussie winter. First stop Japan, then UK/Ireland and if work doesn't call me back, onto Chicago. I will make it up as I go along
