"God Is Not Dead; Nor Doth He Sleep"

Last night my sister took me out for a date.  We went to listen to the Christmas concert for the East Valley Mormon Choral Organization. 

It was beautiful.  Music is truly the universal language.  I loved the whole thing. 

The program ended with the director challenging the audience to discover the heartaches that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow experienced as he penned the words to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."

I accept your challenge, sir.

According to Tom Stewart, Longfellow and his wife, Fanny, were married for nearly 20 years and had five children.  In 1861, the Civil War broke out.  That June, Fanny cut their seven-year-old daughter's hair and decided to save the cut hair in an envelope sealed with wax.  The wax from the candle dripped onto her dress.  Her dress caught fire.  Fanny tried to save the two little girls who were in the room with her.  She carefully ran with them to Henry's office and he tried to extinguish the flames with a rug.  When that didn't work he threw himself on her, burning himself in the process.  She died the next morning.  Between grief and his severe burns, he couldn't attend her funeral.

Two years later his son was shot while in battle.  The bullet entered under his shoulder blade and injured his spine, however, the wound did not kill him. 

Holidays were the hardest for Longfellow to endure.  Life was difficult to survive without his wife.  And the injury of his son seemed to haunt him as well. 

Yet, somehow, Longfellow found some hope:

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 story touched my heart.  The choir's performance was beautiful.  I wish I had a recording of it. 

Longfellow must have been a strong man to have endured so much trial and pain and yet still write one of the greatest carols of hope for the Christmas season. 

I've been a little afraid of Christmas this year.  I had some weeks of envisioning the mini-stocking we'd use this year for our unborn baby, the one we used for the other kids when we were pregnant with them.  That stocking is back in the box with other unused decorations for the season. 

But this carol is a wonderful reminder.  God has not left us in our sorrows.  He loves us, despite the trials and heartaches we experience.