“To God in heaven, the highest glory—and to those on earth, peace . . .” 
—Luke 2:14, Becky’s No-nonsense Paraphrase

Christmas Grief Interrupts Peace

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the writer famous for poems like “Paul Revere’s Ride” and my childhood favorite, “The Village Blacksmith,” experienced deep despair. He’d buried a child. His wife’s dress caught fire in 1861; she died despite his efforts to smother the flames, which resulted in his own severe burns. His ongoing grief was so great he worried he might be committed to an asylum, which would leave his six children vulnerable. His oldest was critically injured in a war between two sides of our fractured country. 

We try to comprehend how the world can continue, how the sun can possibly keep shining after a loss. 

Christmas Bells Bring No Peace

Christmas Day, 1863, Henry sat stunned as the peals of joyous church bells echoed around him. And then he penned a poem: “Christmas Bells.” Later set to music, his words ring out in churches and Christmas performances each year. 

“Christmas Bells” wasn’t a celebration of the birth of Christ. Longfellow’s words are bitter. Grief-stricken. Discouraged. Depressed. Desolate. 

“How can the bells possibly ring when I am in despair?”

Many of us can identify with his question this Christmas. Empty places at our tables. Hugs and laughter absent from our homes. The moment of peace when we wake, just before the crushing weight returns.

Christmas Guilt Smothers Peace

The Christianese response to sadness at Christmas is often a cheery, “Don’t forget: Jesus is the reason for the season.” Friends who haven’t experienced loss sometimes think this catchphrase should be enough. They believe the words will encourage us to buck up, get it together, paste on a smile.

But when our mind’s image of the Baby in a manger wavers in the face of incredibly difficult losses, guilt—piled on top of grief—can overwhelm us. 

Christmas Dissonance Destroys Peace

Henry felt the dissonance of ringing bells amid a fighting nation and a family torn apart. The bells’ volume swells from ringing to clanging through the first three stanzas of his poem. Stanza four morphs into another scene as boom and crack of cannons and gunfire drown out the bells. Stanza five surrenders to despondency in the face of fighting and hate. “

‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said . . .”

We slip beneath the waves of heartache, tugged deeper by despair, until we cannot see the light, cannot hear the bells. We experience a similar dissonance. 

Christmas Redemption Revives Peace

But the final stanza changes everything. Longfellow squares his shoulders, straightens his spine. He refuses to let sorrow steal his spirit. He chooses to fight the darkness with the Light. 

“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.'”

We need Truth to help us survive those heartsick moments. We must choose to hold the hand of the One who lives, who never lets us go, who never sleeps.  

Recommendations to Help Find Peace

If difficult moments define your Christmas experience, try Longfellow’s tactic: choose to focus on Truth and Light.

• Read some Bible verses about the depth of God’s love for you. (Search “verses about God’s love for me” if you’re not sure where to find them.) 
• Close your eyes. Imagine the unbelievable, uncontainable strength of the love the Ultimate Gift-giver has for you. Focus your mind on feeling the emotion. Not your emotion, but his. Let it permeate every part of you.
• Now (I recommend opening your eyes for this step) write a letter—to YOU—from the incredibly faceted point of view of this true Light who sees you, knows you, and loves you. Anchor the letter in the words you read during step one. 
• Rewrite those verses and promises from step one to include your name, as a reminder that YOU were on his mind when the original manuscripts were penned. 

You are seen. You are known. You are loved. You are held. 

You are not alone.

Love, 

Becky Blue

Thanks to my friend Wallace for introducing me to the story of Christmas Bells. 

Christmas Bells

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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.”

This poem is in the public domain.

Source links: 

https://poets.org/poem/christmas-bells

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/the-story-of-pain-and-hope-behind-i-heard-the-bells-on-christmas-day

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-true-story-of-pain-and-hope-behind-i-heard-the-bells-on-christmas-day.129288