As a 5-year-old keeping the cows out of my father's fields, I was awed by the sounds and sights of a North Dakota summer day. Only the occasional mooing of a cow or the whistling of a meadowlark broke the soft stillness. Shimmering heat waves danced across the prairie while a cautious coyote skulked nearby. Hungry hawks circled overhead as snow-white clouds lazily floated in the sky.

My parents taught me that far above the idyllic Dakota scene was a personal God, great and holy beyond all imagining. I felt small and vulnerable. But my parents also taught me that God loved me so much He sent Jesus to die for me, so I felt love for Him.

Children can sense those kinds of essential truths long before they understand terms like God's transcendence (His immeasurable difference from us) and His immanence (His nearness). I know the words now, but I still find it helpful to recapture that innocent wonder by imagining myself back on the farm as a child.

We can't relive our childhood, nor should we want to do so. But remember that the Lord lives "with him who has a contrite and humble spirit" (Isa. 57:15). Recall the wonder of your early days. Then, with a childlike sense of awe, reflect on the majesty of the "High and Lofty One."  — Herbert Vander Lugt