Sorrow and comfort

Comfort came to me from an unusual source tonight. After a heartbreaking incident with the boys which required hammers and nails and rearranging of beds, Loren and the older children each got out a poetry book. They took turns reading poems, and I was touched by Lynae's reading of Longfellow's "Christmas Bells"...

"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!"

Amen.

And someday the ugly, smelly, bare and trashed room in our house will be restored to a cute little bedroom with wallpaper, curtains, posters, cozy beds and toys and the sweet dreams of children. I doubt we'll be here to see it.