Bending Angel

Prayer for William Shatner and to Look at My Life from God’s Point of View — October 17, 2021

October 16, 2021 by Jack Emmott 1 Comment

Last week millions around the world witnessed an extraordinary event. Another launch of the Blue Origin. The flight. The inhabited vessel’s return to Earth. That was amazing.

However, in my view, what was truly extraordinary was not successfully completing another historic mission. Rather, it was William Shatner, the 90-year old famed actor of Star Trek, who was so emotionally overcome with the experience that he could hardly utter a single word. There were no lines of a script William Shatner could’ve read which could adequately describe what had just happened. Just think about that for a moment.

In a post-mission interview, William Shatner said he had written prepared remarks to provide the media. Those remarks were abandoned, jettisoned like the New Shepard rocket booster as the vessel continued its climb heavenward.

William Shatner told the world that, as he looked into outer space, he saw darkness and death. At age 90 I can understand having thoughts of death and being mortal. Can’t you? Next, he spoke about looking down from the Thermosphere through the thin fragile protective membrane of blue to the Earth. He witnessed an epiphany of sorts. He saw the same old Earth with a new perspective—from God’s viewpoint to see a living, breathing planet inhabited by His children. The planet he had been gifted by God is full of life, light, hope, and love.

After his tearful, emotional interview, he was asked on the Today Show whether he would like to go on another trip on the Blue Origin. He said, “No”. William Shatner said that he wanted to keep the vividness of his experience as brilliant and undiminished as long as possible. He feared that another trip might lessen the lesson of the preciousness of what he had on Earth. He never wanted to lose that. The perspective of his own life now had a view from a different lens. An unexpected previously unappreciated way to view the life he had been given. The life he wanted his children and grandchildren to experience after his own death.

I mentioned these thoughts to my good friend, Mark, this week. Mark said, “God puts people, things, and experiences in our paths to give each of us perspective in life.”

What or who has God placed in your path to find perspective? What value and meaning have you gained from such a perspective?
God did not give me polio or paralysis. But through grace, the gift of prayer, and God’s love I discovered an equally profound experience and perspective without boarding the Blue Origin as William Shatner did.

At six years of age, I went to a dark place and stared death in the face. In that darkness I found hope. I saw the light. I saw a glimpse of God’s living angels around me. I saw through the lens of polio the purpose of my suffering. Eventually, I found my calling to serve others in dark times as a Collaborative Divorce attorney.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about how He views us from above.

Psalm 9:7-8
The Lord reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment.
He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, I thank You for the things, people, and experiences You have placed in my path which enable me to view my life and others as You do.

God, in prayer please help me, with renewed vision and perspective, to live my life more fully and love others more deeply.

God, in prayer please invite me to look at all aspects of my life as You in Heaven view me as Your child.

May I keep my walk of faith firmly planted on this blessed Earth. May my heart remain focused on the greatest journey yet to come—eternal life and love with You in Heaven. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

If you want to purchase for yourself or a friend a copy of Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love or Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation or Divorce, please click on here to go to Amazon.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to www.BendingAngel.com.

Prayer for Lessons Learned from My Senior Prom — October 10, 2021

October 11, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

As a Senior at Cy-Fair High School, I was much more excited about going to the Prom than getting my diploma. I made perfect plans for the making of an everlasting life-long memory. But what I remember now, decades later, are the lessons I learned from that experience.

Because of my father’s relationship with Bob Sakowitz, I had the opportunity to rent Mr. Sakowitz’s Rolls-Royce for the evening of the Prom. What could be grander than that? I worked for a year at Oak Village Theater to earn enough money to pay for the Rolls to be driven by Mr. Sakowitz’s personal Chauffer, Johnny Cole. A year of sacrifice to pay for it was a lot of money. Surely, the sacrifice would be worth it.

As Johnny, the Chauffer, drove down Emmott Road to pick up my brother Charles and me, there was a big problem. A drunk white man with a lead pipe in his hand motioned the Black Chauffeur to pull over. He yelled, “Hey, n….r, what the hell are you doing around here? Get out of the car and come talk to me.” Obviously, Johnny did not accept the invitation from the bigoted man. Instead, Johnny drove the car into the driveway of John Guhn’s parents on Fairbanks-North Houston. Johnny got out of the Rolls. He hurriedly ran to the front door for refuge. Thankfully, Mr. and Mrs. Guhn let Johnny in to protect him from the angry drunk man who was waiting outside in the yard with the pipe in his hand. The police were called. After the police arrested the man, Johnny, the Chauffer, came to pick us up.

What a start to my perfect evening. Besides getting to ride in a Rolls-Royce to the Prom, my date was a pretty Cy-Fair girl who was also a cheerleader for the Houston Oilers. She had recently broken up with a Cy-Fair senior football player. Because of that, she accepted my invitation to be my Prom date.

Everything was set up for me to have a fabulous time. Mr. Sakowitz’s Rolls-Royce and his personal Chauffeur. Attending the Prom at the Warwick Hotel (now Hotel Zaza). And spending the evening with a cheerleader for the Oilers.

Things did not turn out the way that I had planned. The evening started out with our Chauffeur, Johnny, being accosted. Then, at the Prom, my date temporarily reconciled with her former boyfriend, the high school football player. I sat there watching the two of them kiss on the dance floor.

The football player’s date in tears walked over to my table. Her name was Leah Lawson. The evening was not going as she had planned either. I looked at Leah as the tears flowed down her face. I said, “Leah, why don’t we leave the Prom and spend some time together driving around town?” Leah replied, “That would be nice.”

Johnny drove us up and down Westheimer past Putt-Putt Golf and the A&W Drive-in. Then, down Main Street to have chocolate malts at Prince’s. For the two hours that we spent together away from the Prom, there was no romance. No holding hands, hugging or kissing. Just friendship and a little tenderness when things were not going well for either of us.

Now, decades later what I remember most and value from that Prom experience are the lessons I learned from that difficult and unexpected evening.
– Gratitude for Mr. and Mrs. Guhn opening the front door to spare the Chauffeur, from hate.
– The falsity of my belief that spending money on things, such as a Rolls-Royce on Prom night, guaranteed happiness, joy, and peace.
– The unexpected comforting friendship of Leah Lawson at a time when it was needed.

Even at my age, I still can see Leah sitting in the back seat of the car. Leah being with me in all her sweetness and tenderness and as young and beautiful as she was that night. Leah, wherever you are out there, I thank you for your friendship on that Prom night. I hope that your life and love have been as good for you as they have been for me.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about putting our possessions in their proper place.

Psalm 49:17
For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
His glory will not descend after him.

Proverbs 4:7
The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom;
And with all your acquiring, get understanding.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, please help me know that the riches of Your Kingdom do not dwell in my possessions but reside in my heart.

God, please open my heart to others, like Mr. and Mrs. Guhn opened the front door of their loving home to Johnny, a Black Chauffeur, to save him from hate years ago.

God, please enable me in prayer to see that Your love dwells in human kindness and not in things.

God, in prayer please erase in me all thoughts that the things I purchase will provide happiness for me. For, true joy and peace are what I, as Your child, experience most in my relationship with You, now and forever. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

If you want to purchase for yourself or a friend a copy of “Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love” or “Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation or Divorce”, please click on here to go to Amazon.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, “Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love,” go to www.BendingAngel.com website.

Prayer for Watchfulness and God Watching Over Me — October 3, 2021

October 4, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

After a year of rehabilitation from polio at Hedgecroft Hospital, I returned home. My condition had improved. But, I had persistent respiratory infections and bouts of pneumonia. Several times a year Mom lathered my chest with Vick’s Vapor Rub and put a T-Shirt on me at bedtime. How many of you had moms or dads who did that to you?

If my chest cold worsened, Mom set up a vaporizer at the head of my bed to try to open up my chest and to ease my breathing.

Especially when I was sick, I said evening prayers for God to watch over me and to cure what ailed me. Thankfully, God’s love did not act alone. It is delivered to others, like me, through the service of God’s living angels as my mother, Lucile.

Several times when I was struggling to breathe at home and running a fever, I woke up. I had the feeling someone was watching over me. I rolled over in my bed and faced the bedroom door. In the darkness I saw Mom looking down at the watch in her hand. The next thing I knew, Mom and Dad came into my room and said, “Bubba, we are taking you to the hospital now.”

Mom and Dad immediately took me to Hedgecroft Hospital. As soon as I was placed in a bed, the staff attached a Monahan Respirator on my chest to breathe for me, to rest my breathing muscles, so that my energy and resources was used to fight pneumonia.

Sometime later I realized what Mom was doing looking at the watch as she stood in the doorway to my bedroom. Dr. Montgomery asked Mom to monitor my breathing at night. If I was taking more than 28 breaths per minute, I needed to get to the hospital for respiratory support and care.
Although Mom had faith God was watching over me, she knew God would not act alone to protect me, to monitor my breathing, and to take me to the hospital. Like many of your devoted parents, Mom did not just pray to God. Mom did not say, “I will just leave it to You, God, to take care of Bubba tonight.” Or say, “I am so tired. Surely, it will be ok if I just get some rest tonight. I’ve got to take care of myself too.”

Because of Mom’s watchfulness while God watched over me, I made it through the serious respiratory infections polio caused. The watchful eyes in all of us see the light of God in every one of us.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about being watchful.

Psalm 59:9
Because of his strength I will watch for You,
For God is my stronghold.

Proverbs 4:23
Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, please watch over me and those I love when I cannot be present with them.

God, please give me the wisdom and strength to watch over those who need my care and comfort as You have cared for and comforted me.

God, I give thanks to You and all Your angels who have bent over me and reflected on my dark paths Your love and light. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

If you want to purchase for yourself or a friend a copy of Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love or Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation or Divorce, please click on here to go to Amazon.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Prayer for Tied Shoe Laces and God’s Good Graces – September 26, 2021

September 26, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I looked down at my shoes as I sat in my wheelchair. My mind was drawn to the memories as a young boy before and after polio. Memories of my mother tying my shoelaces almost every day until I married Dorothy when I was 23. At age six I had just learned to do that myself. I was almost a big boy. Then, polio took that away from me for the rest of my life.

Without complaint, Mom sat on the floor in front of me before breakfast each day. She put on my socks. Slipped my feet into my shoes. Then, tied the shoelaces with care. This daily ritual said to me without a word from her lips, “There you go my son. Now, you are ready to step forward and tackle what comes your way today.”

After our wedding, my bride, Dorothy, took over the daily ritual of Mom tying my shoelaces. Like my Mom, for more than twice as many years, Dorothy has done daily what Mom did without complaint to make sure I am ready for wherever my walk of faith takes me.

Two extraordinary women. One man receiving the same dependable daily care from two women who’ve loved him. Two women I have never taken for granted. I will remember such gifts of God’s grace until I can remember no more.

From tied shoelaces, I received God’s good graces.

Mom died eleven years ago. At my age as a grown man, it seems silly to wish Mom could show up some morning to tie my shoes again. But, today that is my wish.

How many of you remember your mom or dad doing something daily for you which warms your heart now? The warmth of that kindness, love, and care never fades. God sends to all of us His good graces in such simple, ordinary and loving gifts in our lives.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about His grace and each of us being acts of His grace in service to others.

1 Peter 4:10
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.

Colossians 3:12
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

Dear God, in prayer I thank you for the many acts of Your grace I have received from those who have loved me as You have loved me.

God, please help me see the gifts of Your grace given me in the simple, the ordinary, and the daily deeds of others.

God, please show me ways to be kind to others in order to share and magnify Your glory and grace in Your Kingdom on Earth. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, “Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love”, go to www.BendingAngel.com website.

Prayer for Houses Divided — September 19, 2021

September 20, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

At this moment in the history of dealing with the Pandemic, families in America and around the world are divided. Ripped apart. Fractured in the positions taken about whether or not to be vaccinated. We are all children of one God. Yet, family members are unable to agree on one of the two choices which is best for family health.

The emotional suffering endured in the tectonic shift in families between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated is palpable. Houses are divided between those who choose to be vaccinated to protect themselves and others from Covid. And those who choose not to be vaccinated because the risks of being vaccinated to them outweigh the known risks of Covid.

This prayer is not about the adverse effects of Covid or the number of victims who have died. It is about the families and homes divided by the consequences of deciding to be or not to be vaccinated. It is about the anxiety, stress, and loss occasioned by family members in the abyss of the exercise of individual choice and freedom. Families are literally being torn apart and separated physically and emotionally from those they love.

As a Collaborative Divorce Attorney, as well as a family member, I witness every day the suffering which this prayer addresses. How many of you know of couples having marriage ceremonies that require vaccinations to attend? These are once-in-a-lifetime occasions. The unvaccinated family and friends experience the loss of not attending. The vaccinated family and friends who attend are heartbroken because the unvaccinated are unable to attend. How many of you know of multi-generational homes in which the unvaccinated are asked to leave by the vaccinated owners. The vaccinated owners want to be as safe as possible. They do not want to play Russian roulette with Covid-19 or any of its variants.

How many of you know of grandparents who want to make a grand memory of a family trip with their children and grandchildren to Disneyworld, to explore National Parks, to go to exotic places or foreign countries, or to vacation in the Caribbean Islands. But their children and grandchildren cannot come because they refuse to get vaccinated.

This prayer is not to praise the vaccinated or to fault those who decide not to get the vaccine. In families divided by this issue both sides suffer. The unvaccinated feel alienated and excluded by loved ones. The vaccinated feel the loss of those who are unable to attend birthday celebrations, weddings, vacations, and even funeral services. Often resentment and anger within families add fuel to the fire of despair. This prayer is not about blame or judgment. The world has enough of that. This prayer is about asking God’s help to heal all the suffering in divided houses. A prayer to reunite in God’s time what seems impossible in our time. A prayer for God to do Holy reconciliation in the all too common suffering by family members. All family members need love and hope whether or not the needle has been placed in their arms.

As a dear friend said recently, something sacred, profound, healing, and Holy sometimes only happens when we step aside and make way for our loving God to step in.

God has spoken in Scripture about stepping in after we step away from our troubles.

Proverbs 16:9
We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.
Psalm 138:3
The moment I called out, God stepped in; He made my life large with strength.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, I pray for You to heal every family experiencing fear, loss, anxiety, stress, or resentment in their homes at the intersection of the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

God, I know that You are my gentle God, my God who waits until I give up, until I get my hands off what I cannot handle before You move in to do what healing is needed

God, may Your healing reside in the ways You ask me and others to behave or in the way You change my heart. God, as for those with whom I disagree I give them to You to love as You always do.

God, please reconcile and reunify all houses divided, disheartened, or broken at the intersection of choosing whether or not to be vaccinated in the time of Covid. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

If you want to purchase for yourself or a friend a copy of Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love or Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation or Divorce, please click on here to go to Amazon.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the BendingAngel website.

Prayer Never to Forget 9/11 – September 11, 2021

September 12, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Photo credit: The Reverend Stuart Hubbard Hoke on Facebook

My dear friend, spiritual leader, and Episcopal Priest, Stuart Hubbard Hoke, posted on Facebook yesterday this iconic picture. This is Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City, taken on September 11, 2001, immediately after the collapse of the Twin Towers. Trinity Church stood in the shadows of the Twin Towers. The church long served as a place where Tower workers could seek peace and communion with God in the busyness, stress, and hectic pace of Wall Street.

But on 9/11, as the clouds of death, destruction, and despair rose behind this historic place of worship, Trinity Church became something else. It was transformed into Holy Triage. St. Paul’s Chapel in Trinity Church was a place where many of the wounded were carried. A sacred place where Stuart and others cared for the wounded. As Larry Beck reports, a solemn place in which Brother Douglas Brown, Order of the Holy Cross (now deceased), tended to the wounded and gave Last Rights to the dying.

The vacuum of loss that day and over the last 20 years has been filled with healing and hope from God, with services and memorials to make sure we never forget what we had, what innocence we lost, what peace the departed received in the arms of God and what immeasurable sacrifice was given by First Responders, including the clergy at Trinity Church and leaders of all religious denominations.

God has spoken in Scripture about the purpose and worth of Godly servants.
Matthew 25:23
His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Let us pray together.
Dear God, please give continued comfort and healing to all who have suffered and continue to suffer from the evil launched against America on September 11, 2001.

God, we give thanks to You for the lives of the departed and the services of Your servants on and after 9/11 twenty years ago, including those at Trinity Church Wall Street.

God, may we never forget how America with Your help rose up from the ashes which descended from the Twin Towers that fateful day, that Your goodness always triumphs over evil, and human death is transformed into eternal life. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

If you want to purchase for yourself or a friend a copy of Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love or Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation or Divorce, please click on here to go to Amazon.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to www.BendingAngel.com website.

Prayer to Find Labor’s Rest in God Alone – September 6, 2021

September 5, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

For you and for me this Labor Day weekend is like no other in our lives, (except for 2020). When we are working at the office or virtually at home, our minds are working overtime with worry. With caring for others in unexpected ways. With sleeping disturbed by our anxieties and fears about our safety and the welfare of others. With being deprived of a sense of community and companionship with others because of physical separation. In seeing conflict in our towns, cities, states, and nations which present unprecedented challenges in our One Nation under God. In grieving for those who have died during the Pandemic. In seeing so many children suffer in pediatric wards across the country. In witnessing incivility in the public and private debates whether to mask or not to mask, to receive the vaccine or refuse to get it, and the shaming of those on both sides of the issues. In adapting to address the Coronavirus which changes and challenges us every day. Even for the vaccinated and the masked, due to the Delta variant, millions of us still fear infection if we simply go to the store, dine out with friends or attend in-person church services. The list goes on and on doesn’t it?

Labor Day weekend last year in 2020 was a big change for me and my family. Because Dorothy and I lived in a three-generational home with our beloved daughter and three school-aged grandchildren, we moved to our bay home, Camp PawPaw, with its beautiful view of Tres Palacios Bay. The beauty of the bay did not compare with being with those we loved each day. For over five months we lived at Camp PawPaw separated from those we love in order to protect ourselves from harm. Dorothy and I celebrated New Year’s Eve by getting the Moderna vaccine. After our second dose, we returned home.

Getting the vaccine seemed like a miracle. We believed we were finally stepping out of the dark and into the light. Immediately, our lives would return to normal. Like you, that’s not what happened. What will the new normal look like? For now, only God knows the answer to that question.
None of us like the changes forced upon us, do we? The Coronavirus is nimble and changes every day. Yet, it is a relief to know that God’s love never changes and that God goes wherever we go to help us find peace. To restore ourselves. To accept things that we cannot change. To make the best of things at the worst of times.

For you and for me on this Labor Day weekend in 2021, just how much do we all need to find ways to rest our minds, our bodies, and our souls? Where do we turn for that?

God has spoken to us in Scripture about where to turn.
Scripture in Psalm 62:1:
My soul finds rest in God alone…..

So, this Labor Day weekend and every day which follows in this troubled time of Pandemic, and to quiet the conflict within us, please let us remember to pray. In prayer, we can surely find all the rest we need. From our labors. To replenish ourselves and one another. To find the strength to carry on. To renew our gratitude to God for the fruits of our labors given to us in God’s Love and Grace. Let us pray together.

God, we praise You for giving us minds, hands, and hearts to earn a living and support those who depend on us.

God, please help us to be mindful that You are not just with us on Sundays but all the days of the week.

God, in thanksgiving to You, may we use the fruits of our labors to make a difference for those who are out of work, without food or shelter, or are less fortunate.

Please help us to remember to give more to those who have less. To think of the safety and protection of others as much as ourselves.

May we strive to labor in ways that always please You. When we find our labor’s rest, may we take the time to be with You in prayer.

Last, we pray that, when our work in service to You is done, we will find eternal and everlasting rest from our labors with You in Heaven. Amen.

If you like this prayer, please share.

If you want to purchase for yourself or a friend a copy of Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love or Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation or Divorce, please click on here to go to Amazon.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Prayer to Do All I Can – August 29, 2021

August 30, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Last Thursday, August 26, was another anniversary of a day I will never forget. On the 26th of August when I was six I watched my mother watching me as I sat in Doctor Sterling’s lap. At that moment I believed mom was crying tears of blood. Actually, her tears were wet streams of mascara running down her face. Mom braced her grief by leaning against my father who stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her. As Dad held Mom in his arms, he leaned against the wall next to the tall bedroom dresser. Dad could not see the face of my mother which I saw. Her devastation and disbelief are imprinted in my memory until I am no more.

Like any parent at that moment of stark recognition when their child contracted paralytic polio, I am certain she was devastated. Without words. Asking herself and God, “How can this happen to Bubba?”

There was one question she never had to ask herself. “Did I do all I could to protect Bubba from polio?”

Mom never wanted any of her children to end up like sweet little Margaret Airola down our road in 1952. Margaret contracted paralytic polio and had to remain in an Iron Lung to breathe for the rest of her life. So, Mom read the newspaper to keep abreast of every way to protect her children. She made sure we did not go swimming even in August’s sweltering heat. We could not play with other kids who might be sick or had a cold. She made us come inside the house each afternoon to rest for several hours. Mom knew that polio was a fecal virus. Every month, especially after a flood from White Oak Bayou, she ran a bottle of water from our water well. Then, Mom dropped off the sample to be tested by Abbott Laboratories. Mom made us take daily vitamins and have well-balanced meals. She took us to Dr. Montgomery’s office on Montrose Boulevard to get a gamma-globulin shot every six weeks to boost our immune systems. Because Mom believed in the power of God to protect us from harm, we knelt beside each other at bedtime to say the Lord’s Prayer together.

What more could my mother have done to keep me from getting polio? Absolutely nothing. Mom never had to regret not having done all she could to spare me of polio and the long-haul challenges of the disease she most feared.

Now, in the Pandemic we have another dreaded, deadly, nimble, continuously evolving, life-altering disease with long haul effects for its survivors. If someone you know or love, such as a spouse, partner, child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, dies or contracts Covid-19, will you be like my mother? Will you be able to say, “At least I did all I could’ve done.”?

God has spoken to us in Scripture about protecting and caring for others.

Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and unto their children after them.

Philippians 2:4
Everyone should look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others.

Proverb 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, I am worried about Covid-19 and its mutations infecting, harming, or killing those I love.

God, please inform me of the things I can and cannot do to safeguard others from harm.

God, just as You look after me in my sleeping and in my waking, please help me to do all I can to protect others from Covid-19.

God, in the event my efforts do not prevent Covid from harming others, may Your love transform the bad of Covid into goodness for Your creation and the darkness of the Pandemic into light. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Photo credit: medscape.com

Prayer to Know What Love Is – August 22, 2021

August 22, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here to listen to Jack’s song, “What Is Love?”

You and I have spent a lifetime learning what love is. It is in you and me. It magnificently shines like tonight’s full moon from the lips, and hugs and the little things children do.

God is love but so are we if we treat others as God commands us to do.

God’s love has given you and me many gifts. These gifts must be given away in order to keep them.

As many of you know in high school I played the keyboard for two popular area bands, The Minutemen, and Beau Geste. Years ago some of you heard the bands at dances you attended, private parties, The Carousel Skating Rink on Old Katy Road, and the Music Hall.

Since the age of seventeen I have been writing songs but never published any of them on social media. In my sleep and in prayer I heard what I believe were the lips of God to create the tune and write the words to my song, What Is Love, recently copyrighted for me by my dear friend and entertainment lawyer, Yocel Alonso.

God has placed in my path two talented artists to be a part of this and other songs to come. One is Stephanie Jones who has the voice of an angel and guitarist, Brian Carrion, to arrange, to play the strings and vocal accompaniment to capture the beauty and meaning of the song. My deepest praise and thanks to Stephanie and Brian.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about receiving and sharing gifts He has given us.
1 Peter 4:10
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Dear God, in prayer may we discover the gifts You have have given us.

God, may we be thankful for receiving them.

God, please help each of us to use, develop and share those gifts with others to Your glory.

God, as we share our gifts, like Jack’s song, What Is Love, please give them the wings of angels to touch the hearts of others with Your love. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

Prayer to See Holy Coincidence – August 8, 2021

August 10, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

In the midst of the Pandemic last year our family lost one of its treasured members, our beloved Penny. Penny was a Catahoula, the breed which is the State dog of Louisiana. Penny lived a good life and added so much comfort and joy for all of us.

During the Pandemic Penny developed a persistent nose bleed. The Vet gave us the razor sharp news that Penny had inoperable cancer. Medicine stopped the nose bleeds for a time. Then, it came time to let Penny go. To not suffer any more. Out of love we made arrangements for the Vet to come to our house. The grandkids, Ellora, Ellisa, and Tristan, placed Penny outside in the yard in her soft bed. We said our goodbyes and gave Penny our fond farewell hugs. Then, the Vet did what is mercifully done to end a pet’s life when mercy is the only thing left to do.

Last Saturday we were told that there was a five-month-old puppy at the SPCA who needed to be adopted. It was a female like Penny. It was a mixed-breed Catahoula dog like Penny. To top it off, the SPCA had named the puppy Penny. As you can guess we took that puppy home. We miss our first Penny. But, our second Penny has already started filling the void left in our hearts last year. What were the odds that these qualities in our new puppy were pure coincidence?

How many of you have experienced things which happen which are more than random coincidence? Things which seem connected by a Holy thread. Inexplicable happenings which become the fabric of your faith that God’s hand is present in your life? How many times have you felt that God has left you alone and adrift? Then, you are faced with something more than coincidence. You are shaken by something extraordinary on an ordinary day. Awakened that underneath the life you are living there is the Holy. That God has plans for you. For me. And for pets too.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about Holy coincidence.

Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer please help us to look more closely at the events of each day and to see that Your hand touches us with Your purpose and love.

God, in prayer we thank You for all Holy coincidences which reinforce our faith in You.

God, we are truly grateful that You are always present, whether seen or unseen.

God, in the often mundane, ordinary, or dark times in our lives, it is no coincidence that Your light and love shine on us. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

If you want to purchase for yourself or a friend a copy of Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love or Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation or Divorce, please click on here to go to Amazon.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.