…what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. (Psalms 8:4, 5) (NIV)

A five point buck stood in our yard in the Sierra Nevada foothills. His butterscotch coat twitched in muscular readiness. No surprise would overtake this lordly creature. His head came up to precisely the right height. One inch lower would show him careless. One inch higher would reveal fear. He struck a majestic profile with his lifted chin and flared nostrils.

The antlers flowering from the buck’s head made me wonder about their usefulness. It seemed an excessive crown of authority. Nevertheless, by his stance, the stag declared an understanding of his anointing. He held himself in the perfect balance of defensiveness and courage.

The stag demonstrated that the beasts of the field know their place better than I know mine. Like the deer, man has a crown of authority that graces his head. It is our intellect. God bequeaths some of his own intelligence to his offspring, but it’s an unwieldy rack for spiritually frail beings.

Jesus cuts a statuesque model of where our intellect belongs. He is compassionate yet confident, accessible yet commanding, dependent yet fearless. In Jesus Christ, I have a demonstration of precisely how to carry my intellectual crown.

God commissioned us to operate between the physical and spiritual orders. We have dominion over both animals and ruined angels cast to earth. My success at this assignment will depend on how I carry my crown. Will I let my intellect drop into careless distractions? Will I pretend my rack is something it’s not, because deep inside, I’m afraid? Or instead, will I learn from the stag and, admitting my vulnerability, stand only in the might of God to mount my rightful place in the cosmos?

Prayer: Holy Father, fill me with humility before you, and courage before the world.