Staring at my blank screen thoughtfully, On this day, when it occurs to me softly That these moments of joy and Christmas cheer Aren't meant for one day but every day of the year
Letting God's love somehow quietly shine through In every step we take and all that we manage to do To truly follow, we must share with those who need most And let our courage be contagious like a heavenly host
Walking the miles of life that are our intended road Keeping in heart and soul the commands we've been told This provides the connection most closely needed And allows our actions to correspond as if we have heeded
The right ways of love, justice, and erasing the fear That Satan and his minions keep clinging and creeping here In this world of darkness, let us shine God's loving light Bringing the day to those who are fearful in the night
This is the conspiracy of love that makes up this season And looking around, I find there is not a single reason That it shouldn't be what it's meant to be in our everyday This is the prayer I dare to say aloud as I try to live this way
(c) December 25, 2023 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” – Luke 1:35
The Nativity reminds us of the story Present in our lives in all its glory In our hearts and in all of our days With not a moment spent in going astray
In their play of love for the arts We loved as we lived from our hearts The bridge of love covered the waters To help us fill the gap with the Father
Sometimes our miracles are hard to recognize As the Word lays out before our eyes So it was with the coming of the Light That the Children of God were given the right
To call ourselves God's children as family Providing us with belonging in our sanctity Traveling at the speed of light, it shines bright Pushing back the darkness of the night
The Word once chose to live at our human pace To faithfully approach us in our spaces Echoed in our hymns of this holy season In all of God's faithfulness and reason
In the Nativity's deeper contemplation We find the magnitude of our redemption Stark as life comes in our sense of reality We think about life to the best of our ability
Each of us arrives as a sort of masterpiece Only in allowing our development and release Applied layer by layer day-by-holy day And so we are in every word that we pray
Layer-by-layer, the story begins to unfold As the Bible tells the greatest story ever told There in all the blessed stories that we tell There is Jesus, the Son, being revealed
Jesus might be presented as God's work of art But the best of all of this is the work within our hearts There it is in looking straight into God's face To know what it is, my this faith, to embrace
Taking away our sins stroke by paintbrush stroke Worshipping together as we fix what is broke Fixing our eyes and hearts this new morning The day when the baby Jesus was born
(c) December 24, 2023 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.” – George Washington (1790)
All the world is extraordinary There is so much to see In every moment and all actions There is the spark of distraction
Hopefully and creatively Your safety is found in beauty As you go out into the world to see All there is has its certain majesty
Found in the genuine curiosity Whether it's be the future or in history Let everywhere traveled bring connection Let there be nothing to small for inspection
You only live once, so it all matters Regardless of whether your records shatter Or you go quietly into that final night Let it be that you've lived your best light
Capturing life with true inspiration On film or in songs of imagination The path of life leads to the path of death Let both be lived with love to your last breath
The living gods form our reality Rebirthed in the truth of every eventuality There are struggles confined within life's box All the dull moments of terror kept beneath lock
We learn to grow from across the generations To the present generation unraveling in sensations Of history as candlelights whisper into love Nothing is ever the same under the heavens above
Cancer is the scourge of the 21st century May the day come when it is part of history The death that comes is worst for those left behind They feel the pain again and again in their stride
As we lost to this unabated sorrow And come to realize there will be no tomorrows We quietly blow our last birthday candle out Existentially, we live our last moments filled with doubt
It's the terror of the something that feels surreal In the purity of knowing our worst nightmares are real The final answers are ones that we learn to know That the darkness is around us and continues to grow
The life lived at best is one of dramedy Spun out like some romantic sort of comedy Hoping for miracles out of some kind of nowhere The fork of the road less traveled becomes clear
A live lived to its very fullest moment In all of its little smiles and every torment Is a life fully lived after all, short or long The moments lived are felt for all that we belong
And to the degree that you've lived love, you have lived Life that is worthy is one in which you know that you give Your gratitude spiraling out breadcrumbs along the way Despite the tears you let flow into the penance you pay
Suddenly there are no more words left for you to say Unafraid, you face the letting go, unable to stay We must take care of who we touch along the way We are each others faith, even when unable to stay
With a mournful look given across the distance impossible We found our way to love however implausible Don't cry, don't shed a single fallen tear Look for me in the heavens, I will be there
(c) December 23, 2023 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.”– John Hancock, —History of the United States of America, Vol. II, p. 229.
Dedicated to my former brother-in-law. They have removed the life support from him this evening.
Searching For Reasons Why by Michael Doyle
Searching for words That just won't come Hoping for a pocketful of miracles But finding none
This is no way to spend The moments leading to Christmas Day Just hoping for them to end Cause they make no difference anyway
Take another sip knocked back Thinking on what you lack Standing in the pouring rain Getting drenched with life's pain
They say only the good die Long before their time As a father watching his daughters cry I sit here just searching for a rhyme
It's hard to keep their hearts Hoping on their stars and dreams It keeps me reading my cards Watching sadness pull at their seams
I have no comfort that I can give But a strong pair of shoulders to cry on Nudging them on to dream and maybe believe At least until Christmas time is gone
I'm so happy that I could cry Only the snowman knows half the why We're all here for as long as we're able Until our chair is pulled away from the table
David gave life all that he could When it came to the blues, he lived them good And now this father watches his daughters cry It feels like Christmas is coming without a reason why
(c) December 22, 2023 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
