The city lights shine so bright Bringing a little Christmas to my night There's joy in how the sleigh bells ring And I love the happy way the children sing
Still, life happens as it does There's no use hanging on to what was It's been awhile since you've been gone The rumor has it, that I should be moving on
Gathered around the Christmas tree Is my happiness in the form of my family It's a jingle bells sort of love Blessed by the hand of God above
Wishing on wishes that might come true I sit here alone and feeling blue It's hard to feel the Christmas spirit No matter how close, I just don't feel it
The chords just don't jangle the same Impossible deadlines offer no game Still, here I am, carrying on It's been some time since you've been gone
Gathered around the Christmas tree Is my happiness in the form of my family It's a jingle bells sort of love Blessed by the hand of God above
Promises made and then not kept Have led to tears that have been wept I want to be living the best happy ending I need to be on the right side of winning
I wish this wish into the snowy air Putting on a smile as I just don't care You don't fall in love with any type of factually It takes a certain magic, actually
Gathered around the Christmas tree Is my happiness in the form of my family It's a jingle bells sort of love Blessed by the hand of God above
(c) December 10, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
I've been keeping my eyes And looking for replies Watching the angels in the skies They and I live our praise without disguise
Knowing in my mind mankind's worth As God walked among us on this earth With His unfailing love and all He's done In sacrificing His only holy Son
Glory to our God on high There a contract between Him and I I know it's true in our relationship I feel it in my prayers and worship
He calls, and I faithfully respond And I know that He's gone beyond There's no greater truth than my need And His faithfulness in the words that I read
My eyes have seen His faithfulness With the beauty of love in His awesomeness Moving with oneness within His power He is the king and healer of every wounded hour
(c) December 9, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“Language is the armory of the human mind, and at once contains the trophies of its past and the weapons of its future conquests.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.” – John Milton
Emotions are relational in grace As we love others in our embrace We're all dysfunctional as we strive In God's family, we will survive
Enriched by the joy that we share In every moment that we show we care Liturgical urges can be ordinary While times like Advent are extraordinary
These are the times to bring proximity As we place importance on loving our family This is the greatest story ever told As the life of Jesus openly unfolds
In examining the passages of genealogy We find impressions of the paths of theology These are the traces that bring deep meaning This is the way of being human beings
There's a lot of wisdom birthed through pain God's intentions are never found to be in vain There's a little craziness in our family trees AS history passes through on this world's breeze
We, as the Church, are those set apart Keeping our truth close to our broken hearts Father Abraham birthed three paths of belief Then, his descendants found both love and grief
God's hands brought forth Abraham's nation Fourteen generations later, it led to our salvation Abraham heard and stepped out to God's call Finding Canaan for God to show him the law
Two paths of wisdom, with one known as "reason" While the faith of the Hebrews brought our season Waiting for miracle answers, we hung to threaded hope We made it through at the end of our tattered rope
God sees us all at our pivoting points made Bringing us love and faith even when we're afraid Wrestling with God, strangers can bring good news Received with laughing ears despite our cynical ears
Sarcasm brought to joy heals our heart's scars As we live our lives under God's twinkling stars Broken families ripple through time's cause and effect We must be careful with what it is that we reject
Step by step, we see how it all connects We turn the page to find what's coming next Blessed seeds become the heritage of history Lineage, law, and land lead to the sum of God's mystery
God got to us by the path of Christianity To believe anything else is the folly of human vanity Jesus came to heal our hurting, broken family Justification is greater than any empty homily
Birthing the truth needed by all to know In the pages of the Bible, it's clearly shown This is the message of our needed redemption Let us keep this in every day's contemplation
We stand on the other side of miracles given Knowing that each of us can be healed and forgiven We keep at this struggle until God breaks through To shine His love and mercy on me and you
(c) December 8, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“A lady of 47 who has been married 27 years and has six children knows what love really is and once described it for me like this: ‘Love is what you’ve been through with somebody.;” – James Thurber
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
We give up our courage Trying hard to discourage Ourselves or any others Among those we call our brothers
But not a single John Wayne aspiration Would save Pearl Harbor or our nation The men present mostly fought to stay alive Belly crawling through smoke just to survive
Seldom has a situation been more dire There were some still fighting who had caught fire Some boys were barely old enough to be called men Would never take another breath or cry again
The attack came like the world turned insane They scattered, stumbling in their last pain That is among those who could still walk Others would remain behind alive, left to talk
Survivors were left to tell this story A story of how real war is; there is no glory Instead, a thousand images of courage and the dead A million bitter memories playing on in as many heads
Some modern-day cowboys would not return Ravaged by war, they watched as their brothers burned These are the lessons that are difficult to learn These form the scars from tears difficult and harder to earn
The Arizona capsized with men trapped inside This was a reality from which they could not hide They told each other this would turn out right If only they could make it home that night
They didn't and remain as ghosts there today A memorial to war to urge us to find another way To live beside those with competing reasons It's better to stay alive in all the seasons
This was a day not just of dreaded infamy December 7th is a dark stain on history When brave men died from an enemy unsuspected Though some in the know knew it was expected
Seldom have truer words been spoken Then those that invoked a sleeping giant awoken Never has sadness so filled the heart Then, that tragic day at the great war's start
(c) December 7, 2024 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
ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER 