Where is the Peace on Earth?

It's a crazy, mixed up world.  There are so many heavy and hard things on my heart.  Where is the "Peace on Earth" this Christmas?  I am not the first person to ask that, by any means. 

 

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 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.

 

Yet 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."

 

Back on Christmas day, 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the words to this song, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". His wife had burned to death when her dress caught fire from a candle a few years before, and his son had just been seriously injured in the Civil War. Here is a photo of his family a few years later.  He knew what he was talking about.

 

Consider Jesus' words in John 16:33-

 

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.

In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart! I have overcome the world."