Reality Bytes On An Earlier Hillbilly Sandwich

Posted on July 22, 2024 by alohapromisesforever 
Reality Bytes On An Earlier Hillbilly Sandwich
by Michael Doyle

Counterculture shined through the city's veil
Giving a glimpse of Eden through the fires of Hell
Harsh in its repressive bits of curdled advice
Dreamers managed to paint their fleeting paradise

The torches of an artistic cohort touched the future
With pages turning into the vision they would nurture
Distractions took away the focus that won't come back
Though there was nothing they ever felt they lacked

In truth, the enlightened seldom know where we are
The sacred cow of history topples on its own dark star
It's all apocalyptic noise about the running of time
Bringing a bit of serenity and mirth might feel sublime

To come to ending is to be reborn, it isn't clever
To see this, you see has been the way since forever
And I don't want to sound or seem all that irreverent
But today and tomorrow flow on but are no different

The real prevalent danger is that the narcissistic ego 
There are a lot of self-aggrandizing presumptions in the flow
All are bound within the hell-hound spawn of fear and greed
By a people too busy knowing all to take the time to read

People like me don't really fit into all this strife
I'd prefer to sip on chocolate cherry coffee in this life
Finding my way to simpler things to say about what I see
Falling in love with life again as though it's a fantasy

Might lead us on a trail of happiness filled with bliss
And so much to see and do that we really shouldn't miss
All that we'll ever know is what we have the words for
All else it seems in waking and dreams is beyond the door

(c) July 22, 2024   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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First Principles: If Freedom of Speech Is Taken Away, Then Dumb and Silent We May Be Led, Like Sheep To the Slaughter

Posted on July 22, 2024 by alohapromisesforever

“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” – George Washington

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Thought For the Day: If It Is Committed In the Name of God Or Country, There Is No Crime So Heinous That the Public Will Not Forgive It

Posted on July 22, 2024 by alohapromisesforever

“If it is committed in the name of God or country, there is no crime so heinous that the public will not forgive it.” – Tom Robbins, writer (b. 22 Jul 1936)

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For Our Living Cares

Posted on July 21, 2024 by alohapromisesforever 
For Our Living Cares
by Michael Doyle

Prayer is not even in the least bit
To be prayed like the hypocrites
To preach or to pray; it's easier to say
What it is to put your beliefs in play

It's not the facade but in keeping it real
Let's not wake up in the difference that we feel
But instead, living the truth we need
Keeping God's ways, we must and will gladly heed

The end has come to the time of spoon-fed fools
When all we did was live by the gilded rules
We've come to a time of living lives of worship
When we've come to live by holy relationship

We are to pray as if in private conversation
Driving firmly toward the heavenly intended destination
Trumping over false desires for the wrong things
To put on the righteous love for godly things

Prayer is the best treasure of our inheritance
Reaching for us and toward us, despite reluctance
To be treasured with the fullness of our souls
This is the truth of love that enriches and consoles

The truest prayers are found not just in our talking
But in our listening to God as we're silently walking
Under the veil of the seven stars and the silver moon
Intending that we might head and avoid our dooms

We can pray our expectations of good delivered from bad
God will change our words to what we should have had
Better to have thought through all that we've sought
In the theology of the Bible, lived so it's not forgot

God will show up in the startled moments that we live
Speaking to our hearts as we learn to take and to give
When we listen, it is as if we are entering the lion's den
Walked into as in daily life, we confront the world's sin

God shows up when and wherever He is least expected
Especially when He is listened to and not neglected
The lives we live are the result of someone else's prayers
Putting aside the accidents and incidents of our living cares

(c) July 21, 2024   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

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Thought For the Day: The Best People Possess A Feeling For Beauty, the Courage To Take Risks, the Discipline To Tell the Truth, the Capacity for Sacrifice

Posted on July 21, 2024 by alohapromisesforever

“The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.” – Ernest Hemingway, author and journalist, Nobel laureate (21 Jul 1899-1961)

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First Principles: Rejoice Always, Pray Without Ceasing, Give Thanks In All Circumstances, For This Is the Will of God In Christ Jesus For You

Posted on July 21, 2024 by alohapromisesforever

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 

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The Beginning of Wisdom

Posted on July 20, 2024 by alohapromisesforever 
The Beginning of Wisdom
by Michael Doyle

In the harvest of all that becomes the soul
There is so very little that is in our control
Asked if there was anything for me to declare
Haunted chords hint that I am becoming self-aware

Locked in the graveyard, I begin to know myself
Laughing aloud that I wouldn't want to be anyone else
It's a critical step toward a just society
Personal virtue becomes the substance of civility

These are the things for each of us to think on
To live our best days before these are long gone
It is to make the breaks that make up our best days
We must put on the thoughts and habits of our best ways

Questioning ourselves as we echo our kindest morality
We learn to live and flourish in our grand totality
Learning that excellence comes with habitual action
Consistency shapes the true character to our satisfaction

It is in this thinking that we gain with some urgency
That only thing that lends us some degree of certainty
Intellectual pursuit in the foundation of philosophy
And the treasured root that shares are only dignity

These are the things for each of us to think on
To live our best days before these are long gone
It is to make the breaks that make up our best days
We must put on the thoughts and habits of our best ways

Life's challenges tune up our lives to live longer
Giving the fortitude that allows each to be stronger
Taking on applied maxims as if each is a universal law
That is only true if able to be lived under by all

The art of living requires step-by-step persistence
Never stopping brings about success despite resistance
The longest journey begins with a step of simplicity
Until great things are accomplished despite the complexity

These are the things for each of us to think on
To live our best days before these are long bone
It is to make the breaks that make up our best days
We must put on the thoughts and habits of our best ways

(c) July 20, 2024  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

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Happy International Moon Day 2024

Posted on July 20, 2024 by alohapromisesforever

This is the day that the UN has set aside to celebrate the first moon landing. This year’s theme is “Illuminating the Shadows,” which aims to focus on the ongoing exploration and discoveries related to the Moon’s South Pole.

Ever since mankind first peered into space and examined the lunar face with a telescope, mankind has theorized about the Moon. International Moon Day marks the anniversary of when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped foot on the moon in 1969. Let us hope that as we venture out into space, we come as a more united people with peaceful intentions behind our purposes.

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First Principles: The Greatest Good We Can Do For Our Country Is To Heal Its Party Divisions and Make Them One People

Posted on July 20, 2024 by alohapromisesforever

“The greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divisions and make them one people.” -Thomas Jefferson (1801)

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Thought For the Day: Every Student Needs Someone Who Says, simply, “You Mean Something. You Count.”

Posted on July 20, 2024 by alohapromisesforever

“Every student needs someone who says, simply, “You mean something. You count.” – Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956)

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