In 1864, after the severe wounding of his son during the Civil War and a few years after the loss of his wife who died in an accidental fire in which he suffered burns trying to save her, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned the poem, “Christmas Bells”. What we know now as the song, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” as a Christmas carol, is missing a few verses from Longfellow’s original poem. What once was just a nice pretty carol for me, has now so much more meaning and appreciation. “I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace”, he wrote in his journal a year after his wife died. From grief filled days wrapped in silence, to writing, ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep’, Longfellow put his heart into this and I encourage you to read the historical background on this carol. (The Story Behind “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day)
Christmas Bells
“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!”
From grief filled days wrapped in silence to a place of peace takes time. Maybe bells of peace and good will are not tolling in your life right now, but comfort will come in our God who is not dead and who neither slumbers nor sleeps.
Psalm 121:1-5, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.”