Hear the Bells.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Okay, so I'm a little late; late as in you-already-forgot-what-your-presents-were late. But hey, better late than never.

On Christmas Day, they played the song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow wrote this song after his wife died and his son was crippled while fighting in the Civil War. The day before she died, Longfellow's wife, Fanny, wrote in her journal: "We are all sighing for the good sea breeze instead of this stifling land, one filled with dust." The story of Fanny's death is tragic, but it led to something beautiful. After years of grief over his wife's death, Longfellow wrote the words to his poem "Christmas Bells" on Christmas Day of 1864.

As the congregation sang this song at church on Christmas morning, I just felt so burdened with life, I guess you could say. The song fit so well with my emotions:

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day.
There old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

For some reason I always get the "holiday blues." Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore Christmas, and four weeks between Thanksgiving and December 25th is "the most wonderful time of the year" for me. And then January comes, and the horrible cold winter, and life just seems so hopeless.

The third stanza of the song goes like this:
"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.'"

You feel so lifeless and wonder what more is there to life?
And:
"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.'"

God is not dead. Jesus was born on Christmas to die for us so that we may live for him. Merry Christmas, everyone.