Half-way through the year, and the temperature around here significantly climbing on this first day of summer, it’s a rather odd time to be thinking about Christmas.
Except that we could sure use some peace on earth; peace in our own heart; peace in our relationships.
All of which – peacefulness – is often associated with home.
‘The back-eddies of the flowing river reflected our tears, the drooping willows – on which we hung our harps – matched our spirits,’ describes the Israeli captives in Babylon of ancient history as they thought of home.
That’s Psalm 137:1 of the One Year Bible reading for today, this first day of summer.
Home for Christmas; home anytime of the year; home – and hopefully happy thoughts of home – idyllic childhood memories perhaps; Home Sweet Home; a home of our own maybe that we never had; creating a home-like setting for those who long for one – these are dreams – some or all – we likely all have had at one time or another when we think of home, at least what we like to think of what home should be.
It’s what Henry Wadsworth Longfellow thought about when he wrote “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” words penned on Christmas Day, 1863.
“In 1861, two years before writing this poem, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s personal peace was shaken when his second wife of 18 years, to whom he was very devoted, was tragically burned in a fire. Then in 1863, during the American Civil War, Longfellow’s oldest son, Charles Appleton Longfellow, joined the Union cause as a soldier without his father’s blessing.”
Charles would be seriously wounded, and would recover, but with that as an emotional background Longfellow wrote, “hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth good will to men.”
But here’s how Longfellow ends his poem.
“After much anguish and despondency, the carol concludes with the bells ringing out with the resolution that ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep’ and that there will ultimately be ‘peace on earth, good will to men.”
May that peace – that hearth and home kind of peace – on this first day of summer, and tomorrow, and the day after that, permeate our hearts today especially among those we love.
