Peace on Earth

 I've been trying to capture my little dog looking out the window at one of the squirrels that live in our back yard for weeks now.  This morning I had my camera close by and caught a rare moment of peace on earth.  Now if we could only have the Jack Russell Terrier befriend the squirrel without the glass between, we'd have true peace.  If there were no glass, our dog, Cammie, would have chased it up a tree by now.  She spends hours looking out the window for squirrels...  She chases them in her sleep, too!

Isaiah 11  (The Message)

A Green Shoot from Jesse's Stump

 ^1-5 A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse's stump, from his roots a budding Branch.
The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,
   the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength,
   the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.
Fear-of-God
   will be all his joy and delight.
He won't judge by appearances,
   won't decide on the basis of hearsay.
He'll judge the needy by what is right,
   render decisions on earth's poor with justice.
His words will bring everyone to awed attention.
   A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked.
Each morning he'll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots,
   and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.

A Living Knowledge of God

 ^6-9The wolf will romp with the lamb,
   the leopard sleep with the kid.
Calf and lion will eat from the same trough,
   and a little child will tend them.
Cow and bear will graze the same pasture,
   their calves and cubs grow up together,
   and the lion eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens,
   the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent.
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
   on my holy mountain.
The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive,
   a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide.

 God's Covenant with David

"Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel, and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.  And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall waste them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house. When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.   I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever."  1 Chronicles 17:7-14 (ESV)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Song of Christmas

Christmas Bells

 Please be sure to watch and listen to the You Tube video also posted here today entitled, "I heard the bells on Christmas Day", sung by Jars of Clay.

The song, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", is from the Poem seen below by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow written in 1864.  The poem was rearranged and set to music in 1872 by John Baptiste Caulkin.  The original poem, "Christmas Bells",  was written by Longfellow in response to several tragedies that had occurred in his life over the span of several years.

His wife, Fanny,  died in an accident in their home on July 10, 1861. She was working with sealing wax and  unknowingly spilled several drops onto her dress.  A breeze came through the window and ignited the burning wax into flames which quickly engulfed her.  Henry tried to save her by using a rug but when that didn't work, he wrapped himself around her trying to put out the flames.  She died the next day; he himself was bed ridden with severe burns to his hands, arms, and face.

For several years he was filled with grief and that first Christmas after Fanny's death he stated, "How inexpressibly sad are all holidays." A year later he wrote, "I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace."  Since the United States Civil War started in 1861, Longfellow received more bad news nearly a year later that his oldest son, Charles, who was a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac, had been severely wounded in Washington, D.C.  He rushed down to bring him home and after a lengthy search finally found Charles barely alive.  Charles did not die that Christmas, but lived.  It was Christmas of 1864 that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned the words of the poem, "Christmas Bells" after coming out of an extremely difficult period in his life.  President Lincoln had been reelected and there was hope that the war would end soon.  Longfellow's final stanza, "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!'" was loudly proclaiming that even when things are difficult and hope seems lost, God is still sovereign and He shall be victorious!

"Christmas Bells"

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(The original poem, complete with all seven stanzas)

"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!"

Photo courtesy of Photobucket.com.