Peace on earth; good will toward men

I

confess to having a melancholy spirit. Happy and carefree on the outside, deep down I am often a scared child trying to fight off fits of anxiety. Due to the masks we all wear, I don’t know that I am any different from anyone else—although I suspect that I am.

One of my friends told me that I have the personality described by research studies into “evolutionary intelligence.” Mary-Elaine Jacobsen calls this everyday genius in her book The Gifted Adult: A Revolutionary Guide for Liberating Everyday Genius [Amazon] (It is an outstanding book, by the way, and I highly recommend it.)

I don’t know that I’m willing to claim the title “genius,” but I definitely fit the description in the book. And part of that description is a trend toward a melancholy nature.

So now we are heading into Christmastime—my favorite time of the year. I love the way many concentrate on showing good will to their fellow man. People are a little bit nicer, a little bit friendlier, a little bit kinder. It’s a great time of year.

But some people are not quite so nice. Santa Claus is getting fired for having a sense of humor. Our government is asking us to spy and report on each other. And there are terrorists out there who would love to wipe us off the face of the earth. And there are ax murdering homeless people in the town Disney built. None of that indicates good will. In fact, it indicates a lot of hate out there in the world.

The Melancholy is encroaching.

When I get this way, it helps if I try to see things through another person’s eyes—another person who went through a similar melancholy moment at Christmastime. It helps me realize the similarities we all have and maybe not feel so sorry for myself and for my nation. So as I rode the subway to work this morning I listened to Christmas carols on my Zune, and my favorite Christmas carol began to play. Before the song was over there were tears streaming down my face. The girl in the seat facing mine gave me an odd look, but didn’t say anything—interaction with others is frowned on in the subway. Let me tell you the song’s story...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote this carol on Christmas Day 1863. It was during the War Between the States and Longfellow, who had lost his wife just two years prior, had just learned that his son, Charles Appleton Longfellow, having suffered wounds as a soldier in the Battle of New Hope Church (in Virginia) during the Mine Run Campaign. He considered what was happening in the world and was thrown into a melancholy state.

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.”

But as he considered the overarching truth of God’s sovereignty he penned these words:

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.”

Here are the words for the entire song, including two verses usually not included in church hymnals because of their highly personal nature and their obvious reference to the current events at the time of the war.

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.”

So the melancholy is here, but so is my love of Christmas and of Jesus, whose birthday is the reason for all of this. In my mind it is the promise that it will all end well, even when it seems like things just aren’t going as they should. It’s okay. Our God has always won; he is winning; he will win in the end.