Right now we are living in one of those really tough times of uncertainty. There's a lot of
trouble in the world. Washington is in transition. And fear is gripping the nation because we
don't know what's going to happen. And it's easy for that fear to turn into despair.
It's also easy to slip into our bubble and think that 'no one else has ever gone through something like this before.' And for that, I always find it helpful to look back on history to look and see how others responded in similar times.
And I find no better story then the writing of one of my favorite Christmas Poems, Christmas Bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
It was Christmas morning 1864, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow awoke like many other Americans, exhausted and emotionally worn from four unrelenting years of civil war. Caring for his dying son, who had been wounded in battle, Longfellow found little comfort in the news of the re-election of Abraham Lincoln and the recent advances of the Union army.
This would also be the fourth Christmas since his wife’s tragic death, and his grief over her loss had turned to depression. Life for Longfellow was anything but ideal that Christmas.
It was in that moment he heard the bells ringing from a near by church tower, and penned these extremely honest, and now familiar words.
“Christmas Bells”Henry Wadsworth Longfellow December 25th 1864
I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!
Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime
A chant sublimeOf peace on Earth, good-will to men!
Then from each thundered in the South, And with the sound
The carols drowned
It's also easy to slip into our bubble and think that 'no one else has ever gone through something like this before.' And for that, I always find it helpful to look back on history to look and see how others responded in similar times.
And I find no better story then the writing of one of my favorite Christmas Poems, Christmas Bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
It was Christmas morning 1864, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow awoke like many other Americans, exhausted and emotionally worn from four unrelenting years of civil war. Caring for his dying son, who had been wounded in battle, Longfellow found little comfort in the news of the re-election of Abraham Lincoln and the recent advances of the Union army.
This would also be the fourth Christmas since his wife’s tragic death, and his grief over her loss had turned to depression. Life for Longfellow was anything but ideal that Christmas.
It was in that moment he heard the bells ringing from a near by church tower, and penned these extremely honest, and now familiar words.
“Christmas Bells”Henry Wadsworth Longfellow December 25th 1864
I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!
Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime
A chant sublimeOf peace on Earth, good-will to men!
Then from each thundered in the South, And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent And make forlorn
The households born
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head; “There is no peace on earth,” I said; “For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead;
nor doth he sleep!
The wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on Earth, good-will to men!”
As I reflect on these words, I cannot seem to restrain the tears that well in my eyes as I sing the last two verses. Like the Psalmist, Longfellow is moved from despair to joy as he rests in the fact that even in a world of trouble, God is still on the throne.
– Merry Christmas- PJC
