WHEN THE BELLS WON’T CHIME

 

Friday, November 25, 2022

 

WHEN THE BELLS WON’T CHIME

 

Luke 2:13-14

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

 

Luke 2:18-19

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

 

          Four years after they were married, Henry and Mary Longfellow were about to have a child. It was a difficult labor, and Mary died in miscarriage. Anyone who has experienced this knows it was a double loss and Henry was immediately thrown into an inconsolable depression.

 

          In 1836 Henry began a courtship with Francis “Fanny” Appleton. She was cool to his advances until 1843 when she agreed to marry him. They had six children.

 

          “On July 9, 1861, Fanny put locks of her children’s hair in an envelope and attempted to use hot sealing wax to seal it closed. Somehow, her dress caught fire. Longfellow heard her screams and rushed in to help her. He tried to stifle the flames with a small rug to no avail. He then stifled them with his own body by hugging her. Fanny had been so badly burned she died the next morning. Longfellow had also been badly burned and could not attend her funeral due to severe wounds.” (Source: a website called Creative Exiles)

 

          Another tragedy for Longfellow happened in the 1860s when his son was severely wounded during the Civil War. It was during this agonizing time that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem called “Christmas Bells.” He once said that “inwardly, I was bleeding to death.” Below is a portion of what we now know as “I heard the bells on Christmas day.”

 

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

 

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."

 

          Smiles often hide tears and some have become skilled at containing sorrow inside a cheerful crust. Empaths see through this and are blessed or cursed with an intuition they would rather abandon. Perhaps you are one of them. If so, please understand this: “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.”

 

Dear Lord, bless those who silently suffer and bless those who can’t help but notice. AMEN