“I heard the bells on Christmas Day, Their old familiar carols play, And wild and sweet the words repeat Of peace on earth, goodwill to men.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned these words on Christmas Day in 1864, after a long battle with grief. While Longfellow was a renowned academic, respected professor, and accomplished poet, he did not have an easy life. His first wife and child died as a result of complications from a miscarriage. After grieving this loss, he remarried

In the Old Testament, Proverbs 2 contains the wise words of Israel’s King Solomon. Particularly, this book opens with Solomon’s instruction to his son, the next king in line to the throne. Solomon gives fatherly, political advice, saying, “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;