One of my favorite songs at Christmas is “I Wonder as I Wander.” Although it sounds ancient and even a little Celtic in origin, the tune was actually written by John Jacob Niles in the 1930s. Nile heard fragments of this song being sung by a girl, Annie Morgan, at a church event in Appalachia in 1933. If you listen to this haunting tune, it does sort of meander out in an ethereal space.
My favorite verse is actually the first and last verse which reads:
I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus, the Savior, did come for to die.
For poor, ornery people like you and like I,
I wonder as I wander… Out under the sky
One word should stick out: “ornery.” Webster’s defines ornery as having an irritable disposition, and difficult to deal with or control. I think this is how God sees us…
Ornery Children!
But God loves us poor ornery people, so so he came in the flesh to die for you and for I . For Jesus is the promise of ages (verse 2) and he is the king (verse 3)!!! Maybe we need to be reminded again of this in the season of Peace, Hope, Joy, and Love.
Here is a YouTube link to this song in case you are not familiar with it. Enjoy!
Come to think of it, this song may even have been an influence for why I call myself “Hitchhiker.”
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