Of Peace, and the Coming of Christ, and 100 Years this Way and That

 One hundred years ago today was this world's last Christmas of peace. Oh, of course that isn't true. But, we had to have left off from peace somewhere back there. And, I suppose 1913 is as good as any. It was, after all, the last peaceful Christmas before World War I robbed humanity of peace for five long years.
   You remember World War I, don't you? Some say it was the first total war, the first time entire populations were involved in the war, albeit some staying at home on "the home front." It was one of the deadliest wars in history, with, it is said, 10 million military casualties and 37 total military and civilian casualties.
   You remember World War I, don't you? It was the war that introduced chemical weapons. It was the war that introduced tanks, and I don't know what else.
   Or, to go the opposite direction, maybe Dec. 25, 1913, was the last Christmas before we became a more peaceful world. I listened in surprise as someone in a documentary said World War I was the last major war in which no regard was given to human life. I think of our pacts today against chemical weapons and nuclear weapons, and hope we have become more peaceful.
   Bless us. Bless us, one and all, as a world. I don't altogether know where we will be 100 years from now. But, I would think the Man for whom Christmas is held might return. If so, our chances of peace looking ahead 100 years are greater than looking back one hundred.
   But, though my perspective says Christ shall come before another 100 years can pass, I think of what those living 95 years ago must have thought. The war brought not only war casualties, but the war disrupted agriculture and trade, leading to millions of deaths in starvation. I think of the great Flu Epidemic of 1918, which claimed, some say, 20-40 million, and, some say, was the deadliest epidemic in all history.
   Surely, folks back then looked around and saw fulfillment of prophesies of the last days, of wars and famines and pestilence. Who is to know the day Christ will come? I read somewhere tonight of the mass amount of children orphaned during World War I and thought of the Savior's prophecy in Mark 13, saying, "But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!" I do not know that the orphan crisis was a fulfillment of that prophecy, for I do not know what the Savior was referring to. But, I wonder.
   And, I wonder but what the people living then looked around and saw in their days fulfillment of every prophecy Christ spoke of when He prophecied His second coming. I wonder but what some in 1918 looked back at the Christmas of 1913 and wondered if it was the last Christmas of peace the world was to know.