‘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.’
‘I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day’
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“What’s that cut on your lip?”
Asked Clarence the Angel.
“What..this?”
Answered George Bailey.
“This is an answer to my prayer…”
‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
~Frank Capra
The seventh stanza in the song,
‘I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day’,
Written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
Has always gripped me…
As I get older it grips me even more.
As I read the news…
And see the advancing army of evil,
Marching ever closer…
I remind myself of
Who God is.
Who GOD is.
‘Oh Lord my God,
When I in awesome wonder;
Consider all,
The worlds Thy Hands have made.
I see the stars,
I hear the rolling thunder;
Thy power through out,
The universe displayed.
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God to thee;
How Great Thou Art…
How Great Thou Art.’
‘How Great Thou Art.’
~Carl Gustav Boberg
William Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the song,
‘I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day’
After his wife had died from an illness…
After his son was killed during the Civil War…
And the country he loved was torn in half..
His heart was smitten.
Yet nevertheless,
After dealing with years of depression,
On Christmas morning of 1863,
He heard the church bells ringing,
Announcing the birth of the Messiah.
He picked up his pen and wrote;
‘And in despair, I bowed my head,
“There is no peace on earth, I said”;
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep,
God is Not Dead,
Nor Doth He Sleep!’
Despite all the tragedy in his life,
He was reminded of God’s Love.
He was reminded that God,
And God alone,
Was in control of the world;
By the sound of the
Church bells….
Church bells.
In the movie,
‘It’s a Wonderful Life’,
George Bailey was at the end of his rope.
His was a life filled with multiple frustrations.
All that he had worked for and tried to achieve,
Felt like it was in vain.
Then, at a climax point in the movie,
His enemies scorn him and start advancing towards him,
To demolish him;
And get rid of him once and for all.
George whispers a single prayer,
“Help me God…”
And the next thing you know,
A man at a bar swings and hits him in the lip.
George surmises that the cut lip,
Was his answer to prayer…
Little did he know that God was working,
In each and every tiny circumstance in his life,
For George’s better…
And for God’s Glory,
To be revealed at the end of the movie.
~One day it will be the end of my movie….
The end of my life.
Every once in a while I pause…
Tap my fingers….
Look out of my window…
And ponder about all that is currently going on in my life.
I simply cannot look at the part…
I must look at the whole.
The ears of my heart must listen to hear
The church bells ringing.
I must hear them announce,
That God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.
Whether or not I see the complete answer
To my prayers,
In this life;
I must see with the eyes of my heart,
I must listen with the ears of my heart…
I must see that God is working in each situation I am praying about….
My heart must hear the church bells ringing,
Knowing that God is in control of
‘My whole’,
Not just
‘My part’
That my physical eyes see.
I whisper a prayer for the situations that pain me,
And I trust.
Not in myself do I trust;
But in God…
The One Who is not dead,
Nor doth He sleep.
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