“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – William Shakespeare, in As You Like It
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Thought For the Day: All the World’s A Stage, and All the Men and Women Merely Players
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged All, As You Like It, Men and Women, Players, Stage, Thought For the Day, William Shakespeare, World
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My Final Victory Won
My Final Victory Won
by Michael Doyle
My soul has no place to hide
As I face the night and ride
Rolling away that stone
Wherever I am, I'm not alone
Burning ashes spread with the wind
Blown hot until the end
Praying that things turn around
My feet are on solid ground
And I know that I am complete
By myself but with God, I am replete
Owing all to someone I've never seen
He is God, and I am merely a human being
Jesus came to free my tainted soul
Everything is securely in His control
I offer my praise and gratitude
For how He has fixed my attitude
Into not caring about earthly treasure
Holding Heaven as my true pleasure
I know the true worth of all
As I sing songs of praise and recall
That forever, I am wholly freed
Pursuing heavenly treasure, not greed
Thankful for all God has done
My final victory has been won
(c) April 1, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Alone, Attitude, Blown Hot, Burning Ashes, Care, Complete, Done, Earthly Treasure, Face, Final Victory, Fixed, Forever, Freed, God, Gratitude, Greed, Heaven, Heavenly Treasure, His Control, Human Being, Jesus, No Place To Hide, Offer, Owe, Poetry and Poems, Praise, Pray, Recall, Replete, Ride, Secure, Seen, Solid Ground, Songs, Soul, Stone, Tainted Soul, Thankful, The Night, True Pleasure, Wind, Won, Worth
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Thought For the Day: Tolerance Implies No Lack of Commitment To One’s Own Beliefs. Rather It Condemns the Oppression or Persecution of Others
“Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.” – John F. Kennedy
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Commitment, Condemns, Imply, John F. Kennedy, Oppression, Own Beliefs, Persecution, Thought For the Day, Tolerance
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First Principles: Minorities Have A Right To Appeal To the Constitution As A Shield Against Such Oppression
“By the theory of our Government majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression.” – James K. Polk, Inaugural Address (March 4, 1845)
In A Time of Flux
In A Time of Flux
by Michael Doyle
Theory and practice belong together
If international relations are to be better
These are pivotal times to see
Filled with dread and promise for you and me
Those who talked of an end to history
Were blinded to the political mystery
Dynamics, order, and balance are power
This is clear in every hour
When World War II ended
The United Nations attempted to bring nations friended
But the carving at Yalta had its concerns
From the present perspective, it's easier to discern
Today is not the time for blind-eyed idealism
Democratic nations have seen greater optimism
The world has become multipolar in alternative
Russia's attacks on its neighbors offer a perspective
The tripod of the elements of national sovereignty
Has ended with the violation of Ukraine's integrity
A power vacuum has come into existence
And it claws at the world with great persistence
Spheres of interest have come to divide
The world again, and we must now decide
Value spaces must come to take their place
To preserve Western ways with their trace
Western Civilization must, indeed, prevail
With the rule of law or the world goes to the Hell
Of conflict that will steadily spread across
And the world will come to its great loss
We are in a time of flux and of full change
As we experience the world rearrange
It is a decade of coming renegotiation
When we will feel a conversation between nations
If we yield to tyrants in their unrelenting aggression
We will enter into a world of ruthless regression
Velvet gloves are no way to counter savage brutality
It takes strength to defend rightful sovereignty
Let me say simply in an easy declarative
That we are in a defining time of our narrative
We stand together and for the rule of law
Or our failure will threaten us all
(c) March 31, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Aggression, Alternative, Attacks, Balance, Brutality, Claws, Conflict, Conversation, Decide, Declarative, Democratic Nations, Discern, Divide, Dread and Promise, Dynamics, Elements, End To History, Existence, Failure, Full Change, Idealism, Integrity, International Relations, Multipolar, Narrative, National Sovereignty, Nations, Neighbors, Optimism, Order, Persistence, Perspective, Pivotal Times, Place, Poetry and Poems, Political Mystery, Power, Power Vacuum, Renegotiation, Rule of Law, Russia, Ruthless Regression, Sovereignty, Spheres of Interest, Stand Together, The United Nations, The World, Theory and Practice, Threaten, Time of Flux, Trace, Tyrants, Ukraine, Value Space, Velvet Gloves, Western Civilization, Western Ways, World War II, Yalta
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First Principles: A Nation That Cannot Control Its Borders Is Not A Nation
“A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.” – Ronald Reagan
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Borders, Cannot Control, First Principles, Nation, Ronald Reagan
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Thought For the Day: Illegal Immigration Costs the Taxpayers of the United States A Lot of Money
“[Illegal immigration] costs the taxpayers of the United States a lot of money. And it’s unfair to Americans who are working every day to pay their own bills. It’s also unfair to a lot of people who have waited in line for years and years in other countries to be legal immigrants.” – William J. Clinton
To Live In the Law
To Live In the Law
by Michael Doyle
Walked into the doctrines of controversy
There is a stiff challenge without heresy
Down through God's good ages
There are debates that readily rage
The dialog should be had with all humility
Gracefully admitting a bit of grace and mercy
It's universal and filled with shades of glory
But it isn't our story, but God's story
Martin Luther found and fought his contradictions
That reformed and rejected the Church's direction
We evolve or don't in our failed understanding
And realize our context has been demanding
Filters and perceptions require adjustment
We need to allow grace to be our measurement
We're under the law as long as we live
But the world requires we learn to forgive
It is said that Christ died that we might bear fruit
Despite the sins that lay at our rotted root
It takes a pause of discernment to decide
The best of our learning to keep in our stride
Our inner conscience brings us to understanding's door
We need to lean in to learn all the more
Legalisms can break our mortal hearts
If we don't move on beyond our troubled start
We strain there at the bonds of law and liberation
The twisted metaphor of marriage pulls the imagination
To find that the widow's first husband was stern
And unable to meet expectations, she did learn
To lean on the ways of humility and to be content with grace
The death of the old ways became a doorway to embrace
The past is severed so that a new path can be found to walk
God's mystic breath is had so that the pastor can talk
Fertile faith replaces barren obedience, unreached
It becomes fruit that blossoms with the love He preached
The conflict of identity breaches from the old patterns
Finding forgiveness in our escape from the death of sins
Stilted religion is replaced with our right relationship
With the risen one with whom we commune and worship
Like the widow renewed, we find ourselves in new emotion
Giving up ritual and impossible laws replaced with devotion
(c) March 30, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Adjustment, Ages, Bible, Bonds, Challenge, Christianity, Conscience, Context, Contradictions, Controversy, Debate, Demanding, Dialog, Direction, Discernment, Doctrines, Expectation, Failed Understanding, Faith, Filters and Perceptions, Forgive, Fruit, God, God's Story, Grace and Mercy, Heresy, Humility, Jesus, Law, Live, Marriage, Martin Luther, Poetry and Poems, Rage, Root, Shades of Glory, The Law, Universal, Widow
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Thought For the Day: Always Remember the Essence of Christian Holiness Is Simplicity and Purity; One Design, One Desire – Entire Devotion To God
“Always remember the essence of Christian holiness is simplicity and purity; one design, one desire – entire devotion to God.” – John Wesley
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Christian Holiness, Entire Devotion, Essence, God, John Wesley, One Design, One Desire, Purity, Remember, Simplicity, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: In the Same Way, Count Yourselves Dead To Sin But Alive To God In Christ Jesus
“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 6:11
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Alive To God, Christ Jesus, Count, Dead To Sin, First Principles, Romans 6:11, Same Way
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