Advent Devotion - Peace be with you (Day 4)

In our homeschool, we have been studying the Civil War, and in the library I found a book on Christmas during the Civil War. It has been interesting and often inspiring reading for myself and my children. I am sure I will be quoting parts of it to you soon. Then I found this story online in a book of pulpit helps. It struck such a chord. I had never heard this story, nor read the entire poem behind the famous Christmas carol. I thought today I would share it.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was filled with sorrow at the tragic death of his wife in a fire in 1861. The Civil War broke out the same year, and it seemed this was an additional punishment. Two years later, Longfellow was again saddened to learn that his own son had been seriously wounded in the Army of the Potomac.

Sitting down to his desk, one Christmas Day, he heard the church bells ringing. It was in this setting that Longfellow wrote these lines:

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 sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon 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 made 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!"

So... what does this say to us now, in this Christmas season? Well, first we know that if we are in Christ we can have peace today. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." (Colossians 3:15) And we know, just as Longfellow did that Christ will triumph and He will rule as the Prince of Peace just as promised in Isaiah 9:6. (My Word-filled Wednesday scripture today, found here.) But, we also know that until then the world itself will not know peace. There are great troubles in the world, but we can rest in the Lord today, in this Advent season, and every day in the arms of our Lord.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."(Romans 15:13)