Three for the Road

Last post before the brief trip back to the ol' homestead. I'll be out of action for at least five days, unless of course I feel like extending my blogging-fast beyond that. But before I sign out I just wanted to drop a few breadcrumbs for my readers:

1) Over at Abundant Life I found a link to the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. I'd read about these and and seen them quoted here and there, but this is the first time I've sat down and read them all. Amazing. Here's one of my favorites:

Resolution #25: Resolved, to examine carefully and constantly what that one thing in me is, which causes me the least to doubt the love of God; and to direct all my force against it.

And by the way, Jessica has a good thing going at Abundant Life. She says the Bible is a love story. And Jessica's blog is a lover's journal! Abundant life, indeed!

2) I thought I should collect together the links to all the posts I wrote recently on the subject of Paul's prayer at the end of Ephesians 3. Mostly for my own sake, but perhaps some others would be interested as well. So I've pulled together the links at Sifted, which is kind of my "Best of Mr. Standfast" blog.

3) Finally, I think I should leave you with a poem. Mary Oliver is perhaps the greatest living American poet. Well, that's my opinion anyway. This site, for example, has a nice little collection of her poems. Here's one of my favorites:

A Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?

And on that note, fare well!