It is well

Gratitude Monday in Advent and I’m grateful for friends who stand by me and with me as I make this journey. Where would anyone be without them?

The same is true for countries—we none of us can afford to turn away from the comity of humanity; such a thing on an individual or national level is exorbitantly costly, not just to the rogues but to everyone.

I’ve been thinking about peace a lot, and listening to this recording as solace for the discord I see around me. “It Is Well with my Soul” was written in 1873, by a lawyer-hymnist named Horatio Spafford. Spafford had experienced multiple losses—death of his four-year-old son, financial collapse following the Great Chicago Fire and then the deaths of all four of his daughters when the ship they were sailing on to England sank.

That’s a lot of grief for anyone to carry. Although this is not specific to Advent, consider that as you listen to Jehovah Shalom Acapella sing it. This is a gospel group of Seventh-Day Adventists from Kampala, Uganda; I'm guessing they know grief and discord in Uganda. If they can sing of peace, there's hope for us.

May the souls of those who are bowed under with loss this year find peace and be well.