Ask the Pastor

April 30, 2026

Poem in Your Pocket Day

April 30 is Poem in Your Pocket Day, which is a good excuse to dig up a little Ted Kooser, Ellen Bass, Ross Gay, or Lucille Clifton. I carry these lines from Wendell Berry:

I know that I have life

only insofar as I have love.

I have no love except

it come from Thee.

Help me, please,

to carry this candle

against the wind.

Recently, I came across this poem by Pastor Fred Allen from Salem, Oregon, and have committed it to memory.

HOPE

lighter than air

it floats upon

shifting winds

a bright balloon

escaped from the fist

of circumstance

A poem in your pocket that in your head can help you with the pain, suffering, and horror in the world. You can repeat it to yourself as you move through your life.

It might also prove useful to carry a little light verse, like limericks.

There once was a man from Nantucket,

Who kept all of his cash in a bucket,

But his daughter, named Nan,

Ran away with a man,

And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

In hope,

Andrew

Read Andrew’s Little Big Moments column “Advice from Daniel Wallace” HERE