I Wonder as I Wander
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So it falls to me on BIG THINK to say something good and true about Christmas. Here’s a sign that we see in front lawns all across Rome/Floyd County, GA: “Christmas is a Birthday!” And it is!
Well, everyone knows that Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25. But there’s no particular reason that birthdays have to be exact. We’re not remembering the date, we’re remembering something unique, irreplaceable, something most worthy of our wonder that happened one day. More wonderful than the stars or the cosmos as a whole is the beginning of a particular life of a man or woman on earth.
A Christmas carol of Appalachian origin captures a lot about what’s singularly wonderful about what happened the first Christmas day:
I wonder as I wander out under the skyHow Jesus the Saviour did come for to dieFor poor on’ry people like you and like II wonder as I wander out under the sky
There’s nothing worse than subjecting poetry—especially beautiful songs—to analysis. But here’s a few words on each of the three lines: