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Continue Shoppingwhat are your bells?
“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” was never my favorite Christmas carol as a kid and then, I heard the story.1
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the author of the poem, had lost two wives, one after a miscarriage and the second in a tragic fire that badly scarred him as he tried to save her, to no avail, he was left to parent their three small daughters alone. The United States was also in the throes of the Civil War, his own son among the soldiers. He felt the loss and destruction of a country at war with itself deeply. He wrote one night after watching his girls’ enjoy the Christmas tree, “A merry Christmas,’ say the children, but that is no more, for me.”
Then at Christmas in 1964, he heard the bells on Christmas morning, he wrote about that experience;
“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!
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!
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!
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!"2
As the story goes as the bells rang another truth came to mind and with it — light. Light and hope.
Longfellow grieved his loss and the terror of the Civil War the rest of his life but he also remembered the hope each of us has in Christ;
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.”
He grieved his loss the rest of his life, but he also remembered the hope each of us has in Christ.
As a deeply feeling person, all the pain and suffering in the world and in your personal life right now can feel unbearable. There is so much pain and loss and sadness, it’s true, but there is also hope, symbolized years ago by the ringing of the church bells, hope in Christ.
There is “a reason of the hope that is in you”3, He is the reason.
Because of Christ, “the wrong shall fail, the right prevail.”
God’s ways and timing may not be the same as ours but we can trust that “all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”4
Whatever winters you may find yourself in, I believe the light of Christ is there too, if you seek it out, you will find it. Things almost surely won’t work out exactly as you hope, but God has the best plan, one that holds you through the dark moments you face, until someday, all the unfairness will be made right, through His miraculous power, in your life and the world.
If you are struggling in this season, I hope you'll remember, you are stronger than you know and God is great.
Does your home reflect these truths?
With intentional design, home becomes your visual reminder — your bells.
What can symbolize your hope like the Christmas bells at home?
Watch Ted Herrman Tell it beautifully hear:
- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hCpMaGfa05A
- https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/i-heard-the-bells-on-christmas-day
- 1 Peter 3:15-16, KJV