One of my favorite Christmas songs is I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, taken from a poem penned by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
The poem was written in the middle of America's Civil War -- and the despair engulfed the nation.
It was a time of personal despair for Longfellow. His wife had died tragically. After trimming hair from her seven-year old's head, she decided to preserve the clippings in sealing wax. Melting a bar of sealing wax with a candle, a few drops fell unnoticed upon her dress. A breeze gusted through the window and the flame engulfed her dress. In a few moments she was gone.
Longfellow wrote on the first Christmas after her death, "How inexpressibly sad are all holidays. I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace."
Almost a year later, Longfellow received word that his oldest son Charles, a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac, had been severely wounded with a bullet passing through his spine and killing him.
Three years later, he began to feel some hope again. And on Christmas Day of 1864, he wrote the words of the poem, "Christmas Bells." The line, "God is not dead,' is a reminder to all who have lost that there is hope.
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I only knew part of that story. Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas, David.
David, I was not aware of the history. A touching reminder of hope's sure return. Merry Christmas to you David.
...I can relate to Longfellows despair.. "How inexpressibly sad are all holidays. I can make no record of these days.Better leave them wrapped in silence."...i remember for years after i was divorced how i grieved during the holidays over becoming a broken-up family statistic..i would torture myself every holiday season with sad thoughts of my 'pitiful fatherless kids'..in reality during this time i was seeing them weekly and they were being well taken care of by their Mother..its taken me a long while to come to the embarassing truth that at opportune times i actually somewhat enjoy to intentionally wallow in self pity..over the years i had learned to use the psychological defense mechanism of Minimisation by "make(ing) no record of these (holi)days" and treat them as just another ordinary day of no special significance..in effect "leaving them wrapped in silence" in a manner of speaking....today my daughter and son are grown and well adjusted young adults and those sad thoughts of little 'fatherless children'are history...."As tyme hem hurt, a tyme doth hem cure"...
Thank you, David, for this poignant reminder of how even the hardest of life's experiences do not erase the goodness of God. Hope your Christmas as lovely! Loved the picture on facebook.
The Holy Spirit is on the move....I was inspired recently to post about it and the very same song clip!
http://raiseyoureyes.dreamhosters.com/?p=343
I particularly love "GOD is not dead nor doth He sleep." A powerful message of hope amidst despair.
The Catholic church just down the road was playing hymns on Christmas Eve, and I thought of that song with the despair...and then...hope.
Thank you for sharing the back story. I've always loved the hymn; now I appreciate it more deeply.
Cool. Really liked this David.=) Thank you.
Wow, David. Poignant. I am just sitting here, listening to this song, soaking it in. Thank you for this.
(I'm just now stopping over. I really appreciated your voice among the chorus for the God-Bumps link-up. Great, great post on Fear Not...)
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