Then Pealed the Bells More Loud and Deep:

Friday morning driving in the car, I heard a beautiful choral arraignment of one of my favorite Christmas songs, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". The words have been circling through my head since and I wanted to share them with you.

Penned on Christmas Day 1864 by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, this song carries a rare message of hope. 

Contextually, it is important to realize that nearly every day in the year 1864 was marked in blood by the battles of the Civil War. This raging in the streets and backyards of tottering nation is a reality current generations cannot fathom. Our hearthstones have been rent by other earthquakes - but not this scale of war. We have not had our houses shattered. We have not had thousands of the bodies of our dearest strewn across our suburbs and home fields. 

In the preceding years Longfellow's personal life had been devastated by the loss his dear wife to a tragic fire. He himself had been badly burned trying to rescue her from the flames. Later his son, a lieutenant in the Union army, was severely wounded and crippled in battle. These events are the roots of his questions. Questions relevant to us today. 

On hearing the the belling carols mingled with the dichotomous percussion of the deathly cannons, Longfellow wrote from his heart:
(The original poem, complete with all seven stanzas)

"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!"

~ ~ ~

Dearest friends, 
May the bells resound more loud and deep in your heart this Christmas.
May you know that God is not dead; nor doth He sleep!!!
May you choose the right and by His grace prevail,
May you embody peace on earth, good-will to men!

A Birth Certificate for Infinity

Contemplative glow. The lights warm the spiced pine cones and the branches of the tree standing at my window are heavy with fragrance. Cinnamon scents mingling with evergreen life and cedar curls spiraling down. I sit in a light circle of peace and a single candle flickers reflections.


Slowly I turn this puzzle. . .

When Infinity completed gestation. God - waiting nine months to grow fingernails and eyelashes and skin. And while our little earth spun steady around its' sun, the Son of God turned in the amniotic fluid of the tummy of a girl. A simple girl in an obscure corner of the planet that swarmed with uprisings and massacres. A small girl in a small country occupied by enemy forces and terrorized by guerrilla warfare.

Infinity entered our time. On a government enforced march in the unsanitary parking lot behind a local motel and convenience store. Birthed bloody and vulnerable just as each of us were. Divinity receiving the time stamp of our existence - a birth certificate into humanity. A Branch on a family tree. And how could human hands parent God? Protect this peace of transplanted heaven?

How could God think this mission was safe? No insurance for this venture into darkness. No assurance of success. It leaves me stilled in awe - this embryonic Love. Patiently growing until the fullness of time in both death and life. God - who is One - seeking oneness with humanity. With me. This Gift - the only way to restoration.

"Love to man is the earthward manifestation of the love of God.

It was to implant this love, to make us children of one family, that the King of glory became one with us.

And when His parting words are fulfilled, "Love one another, as I have loved you",

when we love the world as He has loved it, then for us His mission is accomplished.

We are fitted for heaven; for we have heaven in our hearts."
~Desire of Ages p. 641

When these words are fulfilled. . .

This is the piece for all puzzles - the truest fulfillment of our dreams. When I love the world as He has loved it, then for me His mission is accomplished. I am fitted for heaven; for I have heaven in my heart. Simplicity most intricate!

This world can be a prickly thing to love. And I still do not love it - thick with crime and dirt, hate and indifference. Yet even my apathy contributes to darkness. No life is neutral.

But His gift internalized plants the seed of Love. Steady. Softly growing, creating grace for others. Vision of hope. Seeing each person with all the dignity as family to God.


Will I let love swell to completeness - to peace? Will I choose to love the world as He loved? Will I let the heaven fill my heart?