christmas bells.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas, and don't forget to thank the One who marked this great season with His coming. Thank You, Jesus Christ, for taking on flesh and coming as a helpless baby. While most kings are exalted in a palace, on thrones of precious stones and metals, You were born in a barn, and laid in a manger. Thank You, Lord for Your humility, for coming so that we might have life everlasting. Thank You.

I wanted to share a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that was turned into one of my favorite Christmas carols. He wrote it on Christmas day in 1863 in the midst of the Civil War, after hearing news that his son was badly wounded in a battle, and losing his wife 2 years prior. It pretty much speaks for itself, so I will leave you with that.

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.

I 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.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!