ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER

Thought For the Day: All Lives Matter; All Life Is Sacred

Posted on July 1, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“Of course, nobody would have a problem with the phrase Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter is a great concept. Brown lives matter. White lives matter. Women’s lives matter. Men’s lives matter. Unborn lives matter. All these lives matter.” – Matt Schlapp, Chairman of the American Conservative Union

If you believe, as I and many others do, that All Life Is Sacred and that the violent overthrow of the United States isn’t exactly the right thing to do here with all this violence, vandalism, riots and destruction of private homes and property, please consider joining our worthy organization here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/268851014335400/members/

We’re taking this movement global but starting in hearts of the many reading this message of hope. All Life Is Sacred! Be part of the solution, not part of the problems.

Flaws of My Heart

Posted on July 1, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

Sat in on an early morning sermon today. While listening in, this came to mind…

Flaws of My Heart
by Michael Doyle

My flaws of the heart
Directed by sin from the start
My eyes closed to Godly fear
I have lived on the illusion that it will disappear
And no one will know
Yet, the wages of sin still show

Instead of being loved, I am hated
This is my lot and I am so fated
Clinging to my verity of illusion
That as it seems are only my delusions
Time and again, a victim of doubt
Through the emptiness of my mouth

Set out on my wicked ways
Though truly not the choice of my days
Desperately in need of His mercy
I turn my dreams to fidelity
Knowing that the Lord's judgments are deep
And yet, the Lord will sustain me though I weep

I am a child of Adam in the shadow
Taking refuge there though I do know
That peace is is the fountain of life
Instead I drink too often of strife
My heart needs its just defense
And instead though I would know truth, I know pretense

To the Lord, I lay prostrate as I call
Before my sins, I too often fall
It is said that in the giving, I receive
I'll do my part and believe
Dying to my wicked self to be born again
Though God knows my needs, does he forget now and then?

(c) June 30, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged Adam, Believe, Born Again, Call, Child, Choice, Cling, Days, Deep, Defense, Delusion, Desperate, Disappear, Doubt, Dream, Drink, Dying, Empty, Eyes Closed, Fall, Fated, Fear, Fidelity, Flaw, Forget, Fountain, Give, God, Hated, Heart, Illusion, Judgment, Know, Life, Live, Lord, Lot, Loved, Mercy, Mouth, Need, Needs, Now and Then, Part, Peace, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Pretense, Prostrate, Recieve, Refuge, Self, Sermon, Shadow, Show, Sin, Sins, Start, Strife, Sustain, Time and Again, True, Truth, Verity, Victim, Wages of Sin, Weep, Wicked Ways | 1 Comment

First Principles: Laws Are Made For Men of Ordinary Understanding and Should…Be Construed By the Ordinary Rules of Common Sense

Posted on June 30, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure.” – Thomas Jefferson (1823)

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Anything, Common Sense, Construed, Everything, First Principles, Laws, Mean, Meaning, Men, Metaphysical, Nothing, Ordinary Rules, Ordinary Understanding, Pleasure, Subtle, Thomas Jefferson | Leave a comment

Thought For the Day: Music In the Soul Can Be Heard By the Universe

Posted on June 30, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.” – Lao Tzu

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged Heard, Lao Tzu, Music, Soul, Thought For the Day, Universe | Leave a comment

Fly On A Photographer’s Wall

Posted on June 29, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

Another peek into the photographs of persons and their relationships:

Fly On A Photographer's Wall
by Michael Doyle

Photographs so perfectly still
Are a marvel that makes us feel
All these candid moments captured well
Soul numbing as they tell their tale

Forever healthy and always happy
Crowded in the doings of family
Unable to be captured without inspiration
Unable to be found in forced duplication

Always present, camera at a ready
Life comes at us relentlessly steady
All the right moments taken in their measure
Each of these remembered as our treasure

Whether you capture a smile or a cry
There's no point in pretending to deny
All of life's feelings caught in their emotion
Are as sacred as our heart's true devotion

Body language brings its honesty
Without a word, we touch on divinity
No suffering fool could be more plain
Then to hope to bring a smile from disdain

Floating by like a fly on the wall
The unseen guest filters through it all
Watching it as it begins to unfold
Letting the story be just as it is told

Little slice of life quietly reveal
And then the photograph captures it in still
The mechanics of each photograph
Whispers the cue of whether to cry or laugh

Paid off in leading lines and windowed eyes
That draw us in framed with no surprise
Splashed of color explode in perfected space
All waiting for the camera's embrace

(c) June 20, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged Body Language, Camera, Candid, Capture, Cry, Devotion, Divnity, Duplication, Embrace, Emotion, Explode, Eyes, Family, Feel, Filter, Fly, Fly On the Wall, Force, Frame, Happy, Heart, Honesty, Inspiration, Leading Lines, Measure, Mechanics, Numbing, Paid Off, Persons, Photograph, Photographer, Poem, Poetry, Ready, Relationships, Remember, Reveal, Right Moments, Slice of Life, Smile, Soul, Space, Splash of Color, Steady, Still, Story, Suffering Fool, Surprise, Tale, Told, Treasure, Unfold, Unseen Guest, Wait, Wall, Whisper, Word | Leave a comment

First Principles: I Count Him Braver Who Overcomes His Desires Than Him Who Conquers His Enemies; For the Hardest Victory Is Over Self

Posted on June 29, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self…” – Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged Aristotle, Braver, Conquer, Count, Desire, Enemies, Hardest Victory, Over, Overcome, Self, Thought For the Day | Leave a comment

Thought For the Day: Our Highest Accomplishments Still Have the Single Aim of Bringing Mankind Together

Posted on June 29, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures — in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (29 Jun 1900-1944)

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged All Centuries, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Bringing, Highest Accomplishment, Human Voice, Mail, Mankind, Pictures, Single Aim, This Century, Thought For the Day, Together, Transport | Leave a comment

In A Freeze of Time

Posted on June 28, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

A little something about taking other people’s photographs:

In A Freeze of Time
by Michael Doyle

A still photograph freezes time
Offering its momentary relationship sublime
Lasting memories never to be taken back
A single shot at stopping time in its tracks

Iconically captured for all of our days
All of the best moments in all of our ways
Whether tidy or too messy to clean
Life has its habit of creating the right scene

The people, the pets, the relationships
Sometimes all of these are almost worthy of worship
The dance of life goes on and on
That is, until, just as suddenly it's gone

The special occasions of our holidays
Can be pictured in a thousand special ways
Always forever snapshots in our memory
To remind me of times with loved ones and family

It is best to catch these moments as these occur
With life passing by in its curious sort of blur
There's something there in the intimate reality
Of our human lives that gives us the best variety

(c) June 28, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged All of the Best Moments, Always Forever, Best Variety, Blur, Capture, Catch, Clean, Create, Curious, Dance of Life, Days, Family, Feeze, Give, Goes On and On, Gone, Habit, Holidays, Human Lives, Iconic, Iintimate, Lasting Memory, Life, Life Passing By, Loved Ones, Memory, Messy, Momentary, Moments, Occur, Offer, Pets, Photograph, Photographs, Pictured, Poem, Poetry, Reality, Relationship, Relationships, Remind, Right Scene, Single Shot, Snapshots, Something There, Sometimes, Special Occasions, Special Ways, Still Photograph, Stop Time, Suddenly, Taken Back, The People, Tidy, Time, Times, Tracks, Ways, Worship, Worthy | Leave a comment

It’s No Mystery

Posted on June 28, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

A thought that occurred to me over and over as I drove through Amish Country yesterday:

It's No Mystery
by Michael Doyle

Every day that we get to live
We have to give what we can give
To show that love can conquer hate
That is if we want a different fate

Every day we get is a page turned
Another chance at lessons learned
The present of living our own history
Adds up to next to no sort of mystery

Open up your fist and take my hand
Let's talk until we can understand
Each other and just what it is we need
For our hearts to be truly freed

I am not really one for second guessing
But have you too maybe forgotten our blessing
When you tell me that you feel the end of days
I am smiling at our need to change our ways

To have more faith and that is greater than fear
Looking deeper than the surface of what appears
But to learn to stop forcing the seeking and see
That we each have the answer; it's no mystery

What does it take but a moment to show kindness
What does it mean to choose to live in blindness
What we can and must learn to love each other
Turn to your left and right; we're sisters and brothers

The greatest commandment it has been repetitively said
And should always be kept inside our busy heads
Is to love the Lord God with all of who we truly are
And to love one another just as we find in following that star

Accepting our differences and seeing with other's eyes
Grateful as we should be for the greeting of each new sunrise
Let's turn that page and walk it in its all together
This then is how we help this world be somewhat better

(c) June 28, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved