“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” – Nelson Mandela, activist, South African president, Nobel laureate (18 Jul 1918-2013)
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Thought For the Day: There Is Nothing Like Returning To A Place That Remains Unchanged To Find the Ways In Which You Yourself Have Altered
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Altered, Find, Nelson Mandela, Nothing, Place, Return, Thought For the Day, Unchanged, Ways, Yourself
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Crash and Burn
Crash and Burn
by Michael Doyle
Crash and burn
When will I learn
My stomach churns
From the lessons that I learn
If I haven't learned by now
Will I ever somehow
I keep pushing on
I keep pushing on
Gonna slow it down
A warm smile turned to frown
I keep thinking that I'm clever
Striking out in every endeavor
Always wanting to be the good dish
But turning out to be the bad fish
Who couldn't gain a good wish
Or maybe know which is which
Crash and burn
When will I learn
My stomach churns
From the lessons that I learn
If I haven't learned by now
Will I ever somehow
I keep pushing on
I keep pushing on
This train is in vain
In a world gone insane
The answer to the questions
Raised without hesitation
As I count the sheep
That get in the way of sleep
As worries come and go
Mine is a life of ebb and flow
Crash and burn
When will I learn
My stomach churns
From the lessons that I learn
If I haven't learned by now
Will I ever somehow
I keep pushing on
I keep pushing on
The voice down the hall
Swears it knows it all
But doesn't know a thing
That adds up to more than nothing
That matters at all
Still my pride takes its fall
I didn't want to feel any more
Gotta keep my feet on the floor
Crash and burn
When will I learn
My stomach churns
From the lessons that I learn
(c) July 17, 2023 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged All, Answer, Bad Fish, Churn, Count, Crash and Burn, Ebb and Flow, Fall, Feel, Feet, Floor, Good Dish, Good Wish, Hall, Hesitation, Insane, Know, Learn, Lessons, Life, Matter, Nothing, Now, Poetry and Poems, Pride, Pushing On, Questions, Sheep, Sleep, Slow It down, Somehow, Stomach, Train, Vain, Voice, Which, World, Worries
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First Principles: The Battle, Sir, Is Not To the Strong Alone; It Is To the Vigilant, the Active, the Brave
“The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” – Patrick Henry (1775)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Alone, Battle, Brave, First Principiles, Patrick Henry, Strong, Vigilant
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Thought For the Day: There Are Stars Whose Radiance Is Visible On Earth Though They Have Long Been Extinct
“There are stars whose radiance is visible on Earth though they have long been extinct. There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for humankind.” – Hannah Senesh, poet, playwright, and paratrooper (17 Jul 1921-1944)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Brillaince, Dark, Earth, Extinct, Hannah Senesh, Humankind, Light, Living, Night, People, Radiance, Stars, Thought For the Day, Visible, World
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Not Me, But God
Not Me, But God
by Michael Doyle
Paul, the murderer, brought salvation
Finding perfection in the worst situation
Today in the world's secularization
We can still find faith in our dedication
The traumas that come and go
Can be disruptive to our best flow
God somehow finds His way past our mistakes
To bring the healing needed past our heartbreaks
People come along with their complications
Some of these are vague and without explanation
However enlightened they may feel
There is only one foundation that keeps life real
Church is a place we can rest and heal
And stop our misguided path toward Hell
Faithful in Jesus, we learn to die to self
Finding truth in wisdom, and no longer from the shelf
God does His best not because of us
But miraculously found despite of us
The Holy Spirit chases our consciences around
In all of God's blessings to be found
Jesus hangs out with all of us sinners
Turning around our lives into being winners
Finding our way within God's grace
The story is told and fulfilled in common place
Slaying the giants of fear and death
We whisper the aloha of life with every breath
Emmanuel died upon sin's Roman cross
To make the way for victory from seeming loss
This then is the revelation of God's will
There are gaps in our knowledge, and yet still
We find the favor undeserved, somehow through grace
When we look straight into God's beautiful face
Finding and living God's strength of courage
Despite our faults, we can find ways to encourage
That the heroes of the Bible were beyond comparison
Examples of who not to seek on a holy horizon
Yet, accepting the stations n life were found
To become the bounty that readily abounds
When we find ourselves by being ourselves
Speaking God's love and not from books on the shelf
Church is not a country club, but a hospital
Salvation is not earned, but because God is hospitable
To whos who need to find the way to heal
And find our peace by and through God's goodwill
All of us are prodigal sons and daughters
Who need to find our way back to the Father
Like the good shepherd, the hound of Heaven hunts us down
Until we become open to accepting victory's crown
The knocking that we hear is God at the door
To get past the disruptions that make us ignore
The faith that we need to give our lives and love
And to accept our salvation from God above
(c) July 16, 2023 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Church, Dedication, Flow, God, Heal, Heartbreak, Me, Mistake, Murderer, Paul, Perfection, Poetry and Poems, Salvation, Situation, Trauma
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Thought For the Day: Every Student Needs Someone Who Says, Simply, “You Mean Something. You Count.”
“Every student needs someone who says, simply, ‘You mean something. You count.'” -Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Count, Every, Mean, Need, Say, Simple, Student, Thought For the Day, Tony Kushner
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First Principles: For He Chose Us In Him Before the Creation of the World To Be Holy and Blameless In His Sight
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To God’s holy people in Ephesus,[a] the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. – Ephesians 1: 1-9
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Apostle, Before, Chose, Creation, Ephesians 1:1-9, Ephesus, Faithful, First Principles, God Our Father, Grace and Peace, Him, Holy and Blameless, Jesus Christ, Paul, Sight, Spiritual Blessings, Us, Will of God, World
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Thought For the Day: Everything You’ve Learned In School As “Obvious” Becomes Less and Less Obvious As You Begin To Study the Universe
“Everything you’ve learned in school as “obvious” becomes less and less obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no solids in the universe. There’s not even a suggestion of a solid. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no straight lines.” -R. Buckminster Fuller, engineer, designer, and architect (12 Jul 1895-1983)
First Principles: Let Us Recollect That Peace or War Will Not Always Be Left To Our Option
“Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 34, 1788
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Ambition, Count, Extinguish, Federalist No. 34, First Principles, Hope, Left, Moderate, Moderation, Option, Peace, Recollect, Unambitious, War
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