I Heard the Bells
Back around Christmas in 2010, I put up these two posts about a story that intrigued me when I heard it. I have since found out that Mr. Longfellow had some interesting beliefs (Have the revisionists taken him apart, too?). However, the words of this song are so inspirational that I felt led to share the story once more.
When Brother Dick led the congregation in singing last week, he would never know how his selection of this song would bless me this year.
It is not one of the more popular Christmas Songs, but as I sang the song I did something I don’t always do I’m sorry to say.
I took note of the words.
This song, indeed, fits the times in which we live.
I looked at the bottom of the page and saw that the words had been written by the famous American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
I went home and did some research.
I discovered that hymn books remove two of the verses that were originally written by the famous poet.
The verses are removed because they have references to the American Civil War.
Mr. Longfellow wrote the poem on Christmas Day in 1864, when the war had affected nearly everyone in the country.
Unfortunately, the great poet was no exception.
Three months after the war had begun, in July of 1861, tragedy struck the Longfellow family.
Francis Longfellow had just trimmed some of seven-year-old Edith’s hair. Mrs. Longfellow then decided to preserve some of the clippings in sealing wax. While melting a bar of sealing wax with a candle, a few drops of the super heated wax fell on Fanny’s dress. The hot wax ignited the dress, swallowing the beloved wife and mother in flames.
Fanny ran to Henry in the next room. Henry grabbed a small throw rug and wrapped it around his wife, attempting to smother the flames. Unsuccessful, he finally wrapped his arms around his wife in a last attempt to stop the fire.
Henry’s attempt not only burned his face, hands, and arms severely; the effort to save his wife had failed.
Fanny Longfellow died the next morning.
Because of his injuries and his unbearable grief, Henry was unable to attend his wife’s funeral.
Two years later, Charles, Henry’s oldest son, a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac, was severely wounded in the Battle of New Hope Church. This happened the month before Christmas in 1863.
It is no surprise there is no entry in Mr. Longfellow’s journal for the Christmas of 1863.
Still grieving over the events of the past few years, Henry put his famous pen to paper on Christmas Day in 1864.
This poem is the result.
Jean Baptiste Calkin added the music in 1872.
Mr. Longfellow heard his words in music for a decade, until his death in 1882.
The words have inspired many, as they have me in 2010. (And they are still as inspirational in 2023!)
May God give you a peace that passes all understanding, like He did to Mr. Longfellow, throughout this Christmas season.
Chris Reimers
(Composed on Christmas Day, 1864)
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.
I thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th’ unbroken song
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
‘Til, 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!
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Posted by Chris 
Wings of the Wind 
Adoption and Foster Care in America
December 8, 2023Biden’s War on Family and Faith Continues.
Story by Washington Examiner • 4d
Pushing back against the Biden administration’s radical identity politics, 19 state attorneys general and numerous conservative and religious organizations last week stood up for religious liberty and for long-standing, effective child adoption services. Good. The Biden proposal at issue is pernicious.
As succinctly put by Advancing American Freedom, a think tank founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, the proposal “would violate the religious freedom of foster care families and ultimately make the shortage of families working within the foster care system worse.”
STATES SHOULD WELCOME RELIGIOUSLY MOTIVATED FOSTER PARENTS
Nov. 27 was the deadline for comments about the “Safe and Appropriate Foster Care Placement Requirements,” a rule proposed by President Joe Biden’s Administration for Children and Families, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. It is yet another manifestation of the Left’s obsession with sexual behaviors and “identities.” It would prevent states from using child adoption agencies, most of them faith-based, that do not accept leftist dogma about clothing choices and “pronouns” for “children in foster care who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, as well as children who are non-binary, or have non-conforming gender identity or expression.”
The regulation would put children in charge: No matter the child’s biology or anatomy, his or her “self-identified sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression” would rule the day. Adoption and foster care organizations that do not agree to be “trained” — that is, refuse to be indoctrinated — to comply with the “name and pronouns that align with [children’s] gender identity,” no matter how fleeting or ill-considered, will be banned from providing services to homeless children labeled “LGBTQI+.” If readers cross-refer supporting documents cited for the proposed, it is clear that the required “support” presumes a bias in favor of chemical and surgical transitioning procedures.
Most faith-based adoption agencies reject the transgender assault on chromosomal and anatomical reality, which often does lasting harm. Yet they make up 40% of government-contracted child placement agencies. In some states, either most, in the case of New Mexico, all, private placement agencies are Christian. Observant Christians are three times more likely than the general population to consider fostering children. The attorneys general draw the unavoidable conclusion: “Without faith-based organizations and foster homes, the foster care system would face a critical lack of placement options.”
As the attorneys general also write, the religious-liberty implications of the proposed rule are profound: “This proposed rule seeks to accomplish indirectly what the Supreme Court found unconstitutional just two years ago: remove faith-based providers from the foster care system if they will not conform their religious beliefs on sexual orientation and gender identity.” And: “The proposed rule is unconstitutional because it discriminates against individuals and organizations of faith who want to serve children in the foster care system. The proposed rule also unconstitutionally forces [so-called gender-affirming] speech on foster providers.”
For good measure, say the top state legal officers, the proposal also would violate the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Harm is done not only to would-be adoptive families and agencies that place children but also to children themselves. By eliminating so many providers and families from consideration, “the proposed rule will harm LGBTQI+ foster children by limiting their family setting options.” Instead of being placed in families that might provide a nurturing atmosphere, they would probably be placed in “congregate settings” that would not give them individual attention or familial love.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Isn’t finding a loving surrogate family the main point of adoption and foster care?
Willingness to love a child, not subscription to misconceived leftist gender ideology, is what makes a good adoptive or foster family. For the government to force out faith-based institutions and families would create a dystopian world in which sexuality crowds out what is fully human.
Tags: Editorials, adoption, Foster Care, Transgender, Joe Biden, Opinion
Original Author: Washington Examiner
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I read this article today and feel this is very important news. Anyone who has followed this blog long enough knows how I feel about corrupt Child Protection Services. I started covering the Barnevernet in Norway in 2016.
I agree with former Vice President Mike Pence that Biden’s rule “would violate the religious freedom of foster care families and ultimately make the shortage of families working within the foster care system worse.”
Chris Reimers
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