Jesus is the focus of joy in relationship He is the purpose of and for our worship This is the blessing we're receiving And it all begins with our believing
Faith is the thing needed to nurture As it is the best path for our future No one comes to God but through this path The slippery slope is as fuzzy as new math
Atheism is impressive in ignoring God's imprint All the broken paradigms missing what is heaven sent Belief brings the powerful to our days And shapes our lives in multiple sorts of ways
Like Peter in his vapid times of open skepticism We bump into the truth through a glaze of optimism Shaping our living hope through earnest praises That are locally grown through the disciples' graces
Hijacked language becomes something redefined Until it is diluted into good vibes singularly underlined We must remain confident in our every moment In joyful anticipation and not in any sense of diffidence
Conformed in every moment, we live the wonder years That come to us all in the laughter and the tears In the end, we survive our days of wounding persecution Lived through unto the end of our holiest of salvation
Whatever comes in life that brings us daily stresses Might best be thought of rethought of our best blessings Problems can be many with all that we often go through But it's best to keep our eyes on the promises come true
In this living trust fund of joy that we inherit It's the bearable unbearable that we truly merit Love becomes known without lingering hesitation When you no longer live with unanswerable questions
Suffering and joy work together always hand-in-hand It's like the giving of birth, a mother stands Our lives become the joy that announce God's glory This is the simple truth of our complicated story
We have won our final victory over the death Found in the reality until our last breaths This then is where we find our way to happiness And the joy that brings our honesty and our bliss
(c) December 11, 2022 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times.” – George Washington1777)
If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? – Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (11 Dec 1918-2008)
After 40 hours locked inside the slave mind It will take three pints just to leave it behind Answers needed can't be found without right questions The urgency felt is constrained by life's hesitations
Fundamentally sought within my metallic roots My mind slips back to when fairies wore boots Still, I sipped at the pub from yet another bottle You've gotta believe, the fairy and I lived full throttle
Slip-sliding across the cobble-stone pathway The barefoot fairy danced across the break of day Her every move in those barefoot steps she takes Whispered to me of sailing ships across mystic lakes
She made me smile with how parents were giving bath To their baby daughter, who with a splash laughs Giving birth to the first fairies full and bright Who passed into the world to make everything all right
Subtly, she waves to her invisible friends in the hedges As glitters of light shine from the start of tomorrow's edges While she topples onto her bottom with a smiling quiet glow From the bottom of the bottle for which she was last to know
A fairy drank with me as I listened to her sing to end of night Which faded away with the coming of that next day's morning light I would have dreamed her into reality if that could be made But I woke alone again today, seeking an explanation I am afraid
(c) December 10, 2022 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Written at the request of my friend, Dan, based on six photos that were his evidence that fairies were real and drank… 😉
“It is necessary for every American, with becoming energy to endeavor to stop the dissemination of principles evidently destructive of the cause for which they have bled. It must be the combined virtue of the rulers and of the people to do this, and to rescue and save their civil and religious rights from the outstretched arm of tyranny, which may appear under any mode or form of government.” –Mercy Warren, History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, 1805
“Ever since the beginning of modern science, the best minds have recognized that ‘the range of acknowledged ignorance will grow with the advance of science.’ Unfortunately, the popular effect of this scientific advance has been a belief, seemingly shared by many scientists, that the range of our ignorance is steadily diminishing and that we can therefore aim at more comprehensive and deliberate control of all human activities. It is for this reason that those intoxicated by the advance of knowledge so often become the enemies of freedom.” – Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992)
Annually, we celebrate Groundhog's Day Hoping for winter's passing and spring on the way Every year the reclusive groundhog and his shadow Comes out to reveal which way it's bound to go
With chestnuts roasting on that open fire We warm ourselves as Jack Frost quietly conspires All in the name of some more groundhog shut-eye And every child's delight becomes a wistful sigh
Looking out through the frosted pane out on the snow There are the winter skies, often colored with blinding blue There the woodland creatures play on grounds of winter's glow While the children stay inside warm by the fire's flow
The sun in the sky is playing a game of hide and seek Dancing between the clouds as it dashes and it peeks Somewhere between the smiles and the happy tears Jack Frost cannot be seen, yet somehow magically appears
Everywhere the howling wind whisper, and it blows Jack Frost is out there spreading winter as he goes There in the icy traces that linger as he leaves them behind Jack Frost leaves his calling card, keeping himself on our minds
Hiding behind the snowman, he peeps happily around And with a wave, a lace of powdery snow hits the ground Holding onto the best of winter's passing memory As children of all ages sing and dance in revelry
Winter's shiver is kept out by the warmth of mittens And smiles are kept on faces by Christmas's newborn kittens It's the warmth of hearts that keeps out the bite of cold The smiles and laughter will keep Jack Frost's tales always told
(c) December 9, 2022 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“How difficult it has been for mankind, in all ages and countries, to preserve their dearest rights and best privileges, impelled as it were by an irresistible fate of despotism.” – James Monroe (1788)
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
