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| 25 Days of God Given Gifts |
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27
December of 1861, was not a time of peace on earth in the United States. A Civil War was being fought between the North and the South, killing and wounding thousands and thousands of men. It was during this time, a man named Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a Portland Maine native, buried his wife.
Henry’s wife Fanny had been accidentally burned to death while heating sealing wax. Wax that was used to seal the envelope containing her children’s cut off baby curls. Henry had also suffered severe burns while trying to save her as her clothes burst into flames. Two years later, one of Mr. Wadsworth’s sons who had gone off to fight in that Civil War was badly wounded. During this low point in Henry’s life he wrote the poem, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.
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 th’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 sublime
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.
This timeless poem/song written by Mr. Longfellow over 150 years ago is applicable still today and reminds us there is PEACE, even in times of despair. God is not dead nor doth he sleep.
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Such a terrible loss, his wife and his son, but his faith held firm. I often wonder would my faith carry me through such a dreadful time. I pray it would.
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