Bending Angel

Prayer to Accommodate God’s Children with Special Needs – January 16, 2022

January 17, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To see Jack’s video version of this prayer, please click here.

To our loving God and Creator aren’t we all special? We each are granted gifts that are unique and which no one else in the world has. We look different than others. Some of us are outgoing and others of us are shy or introverted. Some of us are bookworms and some are athletes. Others have gifted left brains who seem to be destined to be scientists, engineers, mathematicians or software developers.

There are also those who are anchored in the wealth of the right brain. To be lawyers, authors, speakers, songwriters, bloggers, poets or artists.

All are children of God like me. But some besides being special to God, have special needs. Whether due to DNA, trauma, accident, death of a loved one, or disease, need a helping hand in order to develop and achieve God-given talents.

The home, school, or workplace needs to provide accommodations so that the riches in the child can flower and live out the coil of potentiality God gave them. Without those accommodations, the life and dreams of such children will die. The loss will not only be felt by the child but, so will the world. The measure of such a loss is incalculable.

From reading my book, Bending Angels, you know my special needs resulted from polio. One set of my needs centered on accessibility. The wheelchair ramp installed by Roy Metcalf at Cy-Fair High School. The ramp put in front of Townes Hall at the University of Texas School of Law. But, gaining access to a school of learning just gets you in the front door. That alone to millions of disabled children is meaningless without accommodations to ease the barrier to achievement.

On June 6, 1972, I attended my first law school class. At that time there was no ADA and other requirements in place to address my needs. My first professor was the esteemed Robert Hamilton. Since I could not take comprehensive notes due to weak hands which tired easily, I had a tape recorder on my desk next to my law book. After class, I intended to play the tape back slowly and pause as needed to complete my notes. As the class started Professor Hamilton stopped talking. He marched up the steps from the podium in the sunken classroom. Then, stood at my wheelchair and said, “You will not be allowed to record my lectures. You have to learn in my class like every other student. There will be no exceptions for you.”

I was already concerned about competing with many other classmates from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia University. Now, I was devastated. I was destined to fail. Thankfully, the next day, T.J. Gibson, Dean of Students, met with Professor Hamilton and instructed him to allow me to record the lectures. He complied.

The day came for me to take my three-hour final exam. I was told by Dean Gibson not to worry about writing too slow. That I was to be given additional time to rest my hand and complete the exam. As the proctor handed me the Contracts final exam, she said, “Professor Hamilton told me that he was not complying with Dean Gibson’s directive to afford you additional time to take the exam. He said you must do what every other student does in taking the exam.” I was in tears. I completed about two-thirds of the exam. A few days later I got my results. A grade of 62. The second-lowest grade in the class of 100 students.

In tears, I went to see Dean Gibson. Unexpectedly, Dean Gibson looked at me and said, “I do not know what is wrong with Professor Hamilton. I am so proud of you, Jack. That is such a great result under the conditions you took the exam.”

Fortunately, the second half of Contracts was taught by Professor Larry Palmer from Rutgers Law School. When that six-week semester was completed, I sat for the three-hour final exam and was afforded additional writing time. I made a 92. For all my remaining law school classes, I received additional time. I became a member of Phi Delta Phi, a membership qualification of being in the top ten percent of the class.

Without a tape recorder and additional exam time, I would’ve failed. I would never have become a family law and collaborative divorce attorney. My life’s work of contributing to healing others would never have happened.

God has spoken to us in Scripture to include His disabled children in our walks of faith.

Luke 14:12
“He said also to the man who had invited him, ‘When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.'”

Let us pray together.

Dear God, please help me and all those in authority in education and in the workplace to recognize the special needs of Your disabled children.

God, please empower me and those in authority to fully understand the needs of Your disabled children and in compassion provide what is needed to fulfill their potential.

God, please grant strength to those who witness indifference to the needs of disabled children, and for them to speak up and to demand that they be treated just as special as You treat all Your children.

God, in heaven our bodies and minds will be perfect. But, on Earth, we must invite people from all walks of life to be part of your Kingdom on Earth.

Mankind’s greatest disability is ignorance and indifference. The greatest accommodations we can provide to disabled children are understanding, compassion, and Your love. 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 Pivot, to Change Direction, and to Be Flexible – January 9, 2022

January 9, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Please click here to see Jack’s video version of this prayer.

My father’s 1940 UT Sig Ep basketball team

At first glance, you may think this photograph of my father taken at Gregory Gymnasium is not relevant to the title of this week’s prayer. As an athlete at age 21 at the University of Texas, he was very gifted.

Often, when I view this photo, I wonder what kind of basketball player I would’ve been if I had not gotten polio. How tall might I have been? How fast of foot would I have been? Would my photograph be placed on the wall next to my dad’s at Gregory Gym at UT? My heart aches a little when such thoughts swell within me.

Yet, the lessons I learned from Dad’s example provided so much to me in meeting the challenges of paralysis and polio. Those lessons have helped for the last two years in facing Covid and its mutations. Maybe this prayer about my dad will help you too.

Dad told me how he was able to follow the rules of basketball in college that were not modifiable by him. No matter how much he didn’t like them. Or just how much he wanted to say, “Those rules don’t apply to me.” Although the rules of play were a given, Dad spoke of how he was able to adapt to successfully compete with the other players whose skills, height, weight, speed, aggressiveness, and defensive abilities were barriers to winning games.

Dad told me of two rules which seem impossible today. One was after that every two-point bucket was made, the very next play was a jump ball at center court. The next possession was determined by which team got the jump ball. The other rule for Dad and his teammates to navigate was a requirement from the team’s coach. Only one player on the team was allowed to shoot a shot on each possession. That player was the “designated shooter.” If a player took or even made a shot who was not the designated shooter, that player would find himself getting splinters sitting on the bench or no longer on the team.

Dad was a successful basketball player due to hard work and his God-given talents. He had to strictly adhere to the rules of the game but also had to be able to pivot, change direction, and be flexible.

After UT, Dad experienced many things which required the ability to be flexible. Leaving his 18-year old bride, Lucile, for five years to serve in WWII in Italy. Not being able to come home to be with his wife when their first child was stillborn. After the war, handling damages to his home from floods from White Oak Bayou. Me, his first son, getting polio. Doing the burdensome and unexpected things for me to give me the best chance for recovery and rehabilitation. Dad was in a coma for a month after falling from the roof in 1983. All the rehab to recover mentally and physically from the brain injury.

Thankfully, God gave my dad and gives you and me a quality, part of our true God-given nature—–Flexibility. To bend. To not break. To not be rigid. To not suffer a breakdown in mind, body, spirit.

God’s grace in the gift of flexibility enables us to live fully and love deeply in an ever-changing world. A world made more difficult now with a virus that continuously adapts, changes, and pivots in new directions. Ways which have turned our families, travels, workplaces, homes, church attendance, and social lives upside down. Ways which have divided us.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about flexibility.

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Mark 9:23
If you can believe, all things are possible to them that believe.

Dear God, please help me to find the qualities You in ensouled in me to be flexible, to change, and to pivot as I navigate the blessed life You have gifted me.

God, sometimes I am so compelled to hold onto my own way of thinking or acting. That my way is the right way. That I refuse to compromise at all. Please help me avoid such rigidity of thinking.

God, please help me to hold on to You while I bend to accept things that cannot be changed and to change those things which are within my power. That in doing so I can harvest the riches and bountiful treasures You place in my path.

God, may I remember each day, that, if I pivot and renew my focus and thoughts on You and Your Kingdom, I can do more than just survive and thrive. I can change the world to be a better place despite whatever challenges I face. 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.

New Year’s Prayer on British Sterling Cologne and Superficial Things – January 1, 2022

January 1, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here to enjoy Jack’s video version of this prayer.

As I begin my first day of the first month of a New Year, I always reflect on the lessons of the past, the blessings today, and the harvest of happiness, love, and joy I hope to experience in the next 365 days.

Last week, I reflected on my Cy-Fair High School days. Like most healthy teenage boys, I so much wanted to have a relationship with a girl. Not just any girl, but a special one. One of my heart’s desire. But how? I was disabled and different because of polio.

I had my eyes on one of the pretty, smiling cheerleaders. She was not the least interested in me. She dated the good-looking, strong athletes who played football and basketball. One of my classmates was David Kubiak. He was one of those guys I could not compete with. David was a fine, handsome young man. David had all the physical gifts I would never have.

I had another dear high school friend, then and now. Gary Miller. Gary had no problem dating the prettiest and most fun girls at Cy-Fair. Looking at Gary, I have to admit I was guilty of one of the Seven Deadly Sins—Envy. Gary had recently transferred to Cy-Fair at a time when the cool surfer-Beach Boys crowd had moved to the Champions’ upscale neighborhood and now legendary golf course.

In class each day I closely studied Gary. I looked at the qualities which made him a magnet for the girls I dreamed to date. Highly polished shoes. Finely pressed slacks. Madras shirts. His tanned skin. His handsome head of hair was razor-cut at Houston’s stylish Norris of Houston salon. Gary topped off his attractiveness to women by wearing great-smelling cologne. He had a smile on his face most of the time too. There was a little hope for me to emulate Gary because smiling came naturally to me.

In copying Gary as perfectly as I tried it never resulted in the joy and happiness I sought to achieve. Or getting the right girl. I did what Gary did. The razor cuts. The shiny shoes. The finely pressed slacks and Madras shirts. My tanned face from sitting under a sunlamp in winter. Blond streaks of hair on my head by applying lemon juice. Wearing a trendy gold bracelet. Topped off with what I thought was the irresistible scent to women–British Sterling.

Trying to be like Gary never worked. It did not provide joy or a meaningful relationship with a girl. No matter how much I bathed in British Sterling or sought to appear as Gary, what I hoped for never materialized. After my high school years, I learned that such superficial things would never secure for me the happiness, joy, intimacy, and love I wanted.

I learned that all I had to do was to just be the person God made me. To be kind. To listen and to care. To pray. Then, God would place in my path true love. My bride, Dorothy. God would give me more to treasure as each old year passes and each New Year begins. Being my “best” me would provide a bountiful harvest of love and blessings from God.

For Christmas this year Dorothy gave me a bottle of British Sterling, a scent I have not smelled or worn in over 50 years. I wear it and do not expect or desire a single thing from it this New Year. For God and Dorothy have provided to me everything I need.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about finding love.

1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer please guide me to be the “best” me I can be. That You have ensouled in my creation the gifts I need to find love and happiness.

God, please steer me away from superficial things. Things I can buy or wear. For things and possessions can never provide me with what I need.

God, please cast from me the false belief that I can find or receive love in what I own. For to find love and happiness is to be like You. To be Your love in the world. And to one day be part of Your love forever 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.

A Christmas Prayer to Make Room in the Manger in My Heart – December 24, 2021

December 25, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Pictured here are son, John IV, and daughter, Catherine, circa Christmas 1983

Amidst the sales of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the rush to get those last-minute or hard-to-find gifts for friends and family, I reflect on the most precious gift I have been given. A gift that is priceless, everlasting, and ever-giving. A gift I received without the use of a credit card, cash, or something given in exchange. That gift seated under the Christmas Tree in my heart is Christ. That gift born in a stable over 2000 years ago was born out of God’s love for me. Not a one-time gift. But, a gift for me now and forever. A gift for today. An undeserved gift for me until the day I die and every day thereafter when my days with God never end. At a place where love casts out all evil. Where Holy light extinguishes all creatures of darkness.

I have many blessed memories of Christmases’ past. Dorothy and I did our best to recreate those magic memories of Saint Nick and the bountiful love of God for our children, John and Catherine. The common thread in all of my memories was the love I received from God. The love of my mom and dad, brothers, and sister which I received before and after polio and paralysis. Love that healed me, comforted me, provided hope to me, and saved me from being crucified on the cross of despair.

I believe that, as God created me and loves me as I am, I have a duty to love others who do not look like me, think like me, are not loveable, or easy to love. Because God gave humankind His only Son out of love for me, what is my responsibility to thank God and show my praise for Him? I am God’s child. God’s love is part of my spiritual DNA. I was born to love others as God loves me.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about the importance of God’s love.

2 Timothy 1:13
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

1 John 4:8
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, as I prayed in Advent darkness, please help me to make room in the manger of my heart for the light of Christ to dwell.

God, I thank You for Your love, for Your gift to me in the birth of Your Son over 2000 years ago. Your love never gets old and never dies. Because of the birth, death, and resurrection of Your Son, Your love for me is forever.

God, please help me to be an instrument of Your love so that I may truly reflect that love in the living of the life You have gifted me.

God, You are truly the greatest gift-giver of all. May I show my thanks to You in how I love and serve others in Your Holy Name. May I generously give my time and money to Your less fortunate children who have so much more of so much less.

Last, please make room in the manger of my heart for me to carry the love and light of Your blessed Son to others so much in need of compassion, healing, and Holy hope. 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 See God Things in a Graveyard – December 12, 2021

December 18, 2021 by Ann Boland 1 Comment

To enjoy Jack’s video version of this prayer, click here.

As you and I get older and hopefully wiser, thoughts often turn to Bucket Lists. Trips to places in America or abroad like Rome, Ireland, Greece, London, Paris. Maybe to skydive like President Bush on his 80th birthday. Go to a Broadway Show in New York City.

Then, there are Bucket List Items that involve resolving unanswered questions which have gone on far too long. Or, reconciling relationships with others before our time on Earth ends and our eternal life in Heaven begins. To close revolving doors of disappointment and disillusionment which never seem to stop spinning or to complete the circle on an unsatisfying relationship before it is too late.

Through marriage, I have a dear cousin, Meredith, in California who is beautiful, extremely intelligent, very literate, and gifted in photography. She grew up in one of the most beautiful environments in the world–the Monterey Peninsula. Her dad built a small ranch home in the 1950s at the north end of 17 Mile Drive just north of Pebble Beach. On a teacher’s salary, he purchased four lots on which to build his home. Meredith grew up hearing the surf pounding the beaches from her open bedroom window amidst the smell of Eucalyptus trees and the salty breeze.

My cousin’s mother was kind, caring, loving, and stable. She provided the kind of childhood for my cousin to achieve the most in life. However, their mother-daughter relationship left much to be desired. Meredith always wanted to be closer to her mom. Meredith wanted to know why her mom said some hurtful things; why her mom was not more accepting of her; and why her mom was too judgmental on occasion. Those lingering questions on her Bucket List were the most important ones for Meredith to check off before her Day of Rest came and her Eternal Life began.

Then, Meredith’s mom died of a chronic lung ailment. Meredith faced the harsh reality that these items could never be taken out of her Bucket List. The answers would never come. The circle of her relationship with her mom would never close. What on Earth could she do?

Meredith decided to take a walk in the Monterey Cemetery, Cementerio El Encinal, in the heart of downtown Monterey. Maybe, just maybe, amidst the quiet beauty and serenity of its gently sweeping lawns, historic monuments, and sentinel oaks, at this place she might gain some clarity, peace, and understanding. Would there be a life lesson from God while walking among the headstones of the dead?

As Meredith turned to view El Estero Lake from a clearing in the Cemetery, a ray of sunlight pierced through a canopy of sentinel oaks and illuminated a headstone in front of her. If the headstone had lips, Meredith would’ve heard a voice, a God Thing, which said, ‘Come to me, my dear child. I have written on me the words you need to hear.”

Meredith saw the inscription. Above was the name of the woman who died. Below was her date of birth and date of death. The aged headstone was worn and hard to read. More than 100 years had passed since the woman was buried. Stepping closer to the headstone Meredith read six words that spoke volumes to her. “She Did The Best She Could.”

Meredith sat down on the grass in front of the headstone. Her questions had been answered. The Bucket had been emptied. The circle of love and life with her mother had been completed. Deep in her heart, Meredith knew that her mom had done the best she could. That was enough.

God has spoken to us in Scripture on doing acts to make us more prepared to go home and be with God.

Hebrews 12:13-14
Make straight paths for your feet. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

1 Corinthians 2:9
What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer please show me the way to prepare for my eternal life with You.

God, please give me the strength to address my shortcomings in my relationships with others, especially the members of my family. That I might serve You in the way I ask for their forgiveness and understanding.

God, where possible, please inform me in Your truth as to how and why any of my relationships are broken or unharmonious–that I may one day understand what is not understood at this time.

God, please help me to die after living a life of faith–a life filled with acts of loving You.

Last, through Your mercy and grace, may I be more prepared each day to return home to You. To a place without Bucket Lists. For with You there will be nothing left for me to do except to love. 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.

Prayer for Patience with Children — December 5, 2021

December 11, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Back in the 1900’s kids worked for their parents. Besides doing their household chores like washing and ironing clothes, cleaning and vacuuming the family car in the driveway, mowing and raking the yard, and cleaning their rooms, many children helped on family farms, dairies, and ranches. On school days my cousins milked their cows at five am before breakfast.

In the mid-1900s a child’s extracurricular activities were the responsibility of the school. The bus took the kids to and from school, games, and tournaments. Many homes had one parent at home to make sure the household ran properly. That parent often did not have employment outside the home. Now, most kids have two hardworking parents who rush to leave for work in the morning and come home emotionally and physically drained. Too often homework has taken the place of family dinner time.

Now, parents work for their kids. They hurriedly shuttle their children to and from school, deal with carpooling and spend untold hours at baseball, basketball, soccer, swim events, games, practices, and tournaments.

With all this business of being busy as parents, it is much harder to be cool, calm and collected in interacting with a child, especially on school days. Today, it is understandable that parents are often irritable and impatient. They lack Godly patience.

Children do not share their love and feelings with a mom or dad who snaps at them or who is irritable and impatient with them. Yet, Godly patience can yield moments of extraordinary lasting value on the most ordinary trying days. Here is one such moment.

When my grandson Tristan, age six, was attending School of the Woods Montessori School, I regularly dropped him off daily at school on the way to work. On many of those days, I felt the pressure of making sure that Tristan made it to school on time and had everything he needed in class. I felt the pressure of getting to the office to meet with a client on time or make it to Court before the docket call.

One morning when we arrived at the school the carpool line was unusually long. Looking ahead I could see the teachers anxiously waiving the parents to move through the line as quickly as possible. I felt relief as the teacher opened the car door. It was Tristan’s turn to get out of the van and walk to his first-grade classroom. As he got out of the van I said, “Tristan, have a nice day.”

As I did every day, I watched Tristan walk about 50 yards to the classroom door. When Tristan made it to the door, I knew I could pull out of the driveway and that Tristan would be safe in the arms of the school.

Just as I started to leave the carpool line, I saw Tristan turn around and look at me. Suddenly, he started running as fast as he could to the van. I thought, “Tristan, what the heck are you doing?” “What have you forgotten this time?” “What are you thinking, Tristan? “ Now you are keeping me and everyone in the carpool line from leaving.”

As the teachers in the front of the carpool line were impatiently motioning me to move forward and get out of the way, I remained in the carpool line. I looked back. I felt the eyes of the parents in the line behind me wondering what the holdup was. Why was I not moving?

Tristan made it to the passenger front door of the van. He opened the door. Instead of criticizing Tristan for slowing me and others down, I decided to do what God does with all of His children. I paused. I was patient. I listened.

I softly asked, “Tristan is there a problem?” Then, Tristan said and did something both unexpected and everlasting. Tristan replied, “Oh, there is nothing wrong. I got to the classroom door and remembered that I forgot to do something.” Tristan leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me. He said, “I forgot to give you a hug and tell you how much I love you.”

At that moment I could have cared less about what the teachers and the drivers in the cars behind me were thinking. I knew I just received a gift from a child and God which I would never forget.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about patience.

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

James 1:19
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

Ephesians 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, I thank You for Your loving kindness and patience with me as I struggle to find and share those qualities in me.

God, please help me to be open, respectful, and patient with the children in my life especially the young ones.

God, please help me listen to the words and the heart of every child. May I not be judgmental but instead be curious as to the feelings of each child.

Last, please forgive me for the harsh things I have said to children when I should have been more like You. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

Prayer for Marriage – Because of God’s Transformative Love One Plus One Equals One, “One Holy” for the Other – November 27, 2021

November 29, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Can you imagine what it was like to witness God’s first miracle at a wedding in which water was turned into wine? The witnesses at the wedding in Cana must have been in awe and disbelief at the sight of it all. How was that possible without power far beyond humankind? This miracle demonstrated that an unseen God in Heaven above could manifest His presence on Earth in profound ways. That was a little of what I and others felt at the wedding of my dear friend, Houston’s beloved Diane St. Ives and Todd Brewer in Bryan, Texas at the Stella Hotel.

As was witnessed at their wedding, God’s love is also manifested in the hearts of His children in their love for one another. That inexhaustible love brings souls together as Diane and Todd to be joined in marriage for a lifetime. Just when the best in life is thought to be in the past, true love intercedes and shows couples, like Diane and Todd, that the best is yet to come. That they and we are never too old to live more richly and love more deeply.

Yesterday, on a cool and gloomy wet-sky day the festivities were not dampened. Seeing the love Diane and Todd shared rekindled in me and others just how much love can heal and realign each of us to be a better reflection of God’s amazing grace. That is the transformative power of God’s love we celebrated with them and others who receive God’s blessing in marriage.

Diane and Todd asked me to say a prayer at the wedding to bless their union as husband and wife. This week’s prayer was inspired in being a part of the blessing of their marriage. There is no better way to honor them and celebrate their profound love for one another than to dedicate this prayer to them.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about God’s Divine transformative presence at a wedding at Cana.

John 2:7-9
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.

Let us pray together for Diane and Todd and for those of us who have or will receive the sacrament of marriage.

Dear Ever Gracious Good Lord,
In days of ancient human yore
In the midst of time the wise ones taught that:
Surrender and vulnerability are our greatest strengths
Alongside true forgiveness and yearning for sacred unity.
Thus, please show these things in and around Diane and Todd and all others in marriage.
Please unite them in the ways of peace and saintly honor.
Do grant them selfless endeavor.
Show them the favor of happy years
And lasting friendships
Even unto eternity’s door graciously opening wide;
A door with hinges of pure golden welcome and divine hospitality.
As Diane’s and Todd’s hearts were joined ever further as one well-woven fabric,
Please remind them and each of us
That in holy matrimony, a mathematical miracle of sorts takes place.
That 1 plus 1 does not equal 2. Rather, 1 plus 1 equals 1, a holy One.
Thus, Diane and Todd and others in marriage become “One holy” for the other,
The true sum in God’s miraculous equation of His love and grace.
Wondrous Creator,
Grant Diane and Todd and others joined in marriage
The treasured knowingness that in their unity
There is always possible
The mystery of joy unending and ever beginning anew…
So, God fulfill these things to Diane and Todd and others in marriage,
Now and evermore. 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 in Thanks for Friends on Days of Giving Thanks – November 21, 2021

November 24, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

After Dorothy and I had our two children, as parents we wanted to make our own family holiday traditions. After a few years, one tradition we began was going with our friends, Ann and Herb, to the White River in Northern Arkansas amidst the beauty of the Ozarks to gather for Thanksgiving. Fishing for rainbow and brown trout in the river’s clear cold spring water. Fishing guides telling stories about the locals and the history of the White River.

Sitting in the jon boat drifting downstream to go nowhere in particular. Seeing the pristine rock bluffs rising from the riverbanks lined with Sycamore trees made me think that my view was the same as the Native Americans who lived there centuries before me. Watching the fishing guides pull the skins off our fish as if the skins were socks. Nothing I had ever seen done with saltwater fish like speckled trout or redfish.

The shore lunches at which we savored the fresh fried cornmeal-coated fish cooked in a large cast-iron skillet. Tasting hot French fries cooked alongside slices of yellow onions in the same skillet. Sitting around the hot crackling wood fire to warm our bodies and to feed our souls with God’s abundant and glorious grace.

As glorious as these memories are to us, even more important was having our friends and their son and daughter to share them with us. Planning and looking forward with anticipation to the holiday together. A family to share jokes. To cook and consume the Thanksgiving meal around a common table. Holding hands with one another during the blessing of the bountiful dishes we ate.

Laughing at the unexpected happenings like when my wheelchair-lift van got high-centered and stuck on a rock. In the snow, I tried to park as close to the front door of the cabin as possible. A very good idea gone bad. That year it was so cold Dorothy and I stayed in the cabin while our friend Herb took the four kids on the river.

The kids returned as cold as frozen popsicles even though they all wore cold-weather gear and jumpsuits. We knew that was a moment they would never forget as shown in the photograph posted with this prayer. Our daughter, Cat, is seen standing behind her brother, John, not out of shyness but to shield her from the frigid and fearsome north wind.

As Americans struggle in the Pandemic to begin again their Thanksgiving traditions with family and friends let us all be thankful for our blessings. Let us be mindful of the lessons we learned from the losses and pain experienced by us and others in moving through the mess of the Coronavirus since March of 2020.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about giving thanks.

Psalm 69:30
I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 100:4-5
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, please help me to be forever thankful for the innumerable gifts You have bestowed upon me and all Your children.

God, I am grateful for the persons you have placed in my path who have become friends for life and who have made good times better and bad times endurable.

God, today on Thanksgiving and every day thereafter, I thank You for Your grace. For Your grace is not something I deserve or earn. Your grace is simply a gift.

God, I give You thanks and praise for Your amazing, wondrous and inestimable grace. In Your grace You have given the greatest treasure to me, the least deserving to receive it. That is the blessing of Your grace. Amen.

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Prayer to Shelter Children from Harm – November 14, 2021

November 18, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

On a summer morning, my four-year-old grandson and I walked down the sand and caliche road on our way to Aunt Nettie’s. Tristan always looked forward to going to Nettie’s field behind her house to feed her Donkey Jack a few slices of soft white bread. He thought it was funny that her Donkey was named Jack like me. So did I.

Making our way to feed Jack the Donkey we held hands. I savored such moments as I knew that one day Tristan would be too old or grownup to do that with me anymore.

Tristan enjoyed walking beneath a canopy of 75-year old live oaks and tall pine trees. I felt the canopy of trees above us reflected the presence of my departed family elders, elders who stood watching over me, Tristan, and those I loved in Emmottville.

During those walks, as an adult, my thoughts drifted to what Tristan’s future would be like for him. As a child, Tristan was not looking ahead to what was to come. Tristan was absorbed in the moment, in the new, and in the unexpected pleasures of just being alive.

In interacting with nature children open the door of their hearts to us. As Tristan was shuffling his tennis-shoed feet on the dirt road, he saw a beautiful red trumpeted flower. “PawPaw, look at that flower!” He stopped and started to bend down to pick it up. I said, “Tristan, wait. Although the flower is beautiful, it is poison and can hurt you.” To which Tristan replied, “Is that what killed my daddy?” Even at 4 years of age, this little boy was struggling in his own way with understanding the loss of his dad.

I could’ve told him the truth, the real and ugly truth that his dad was murdered when his son was 9 months of age. Near 18th Street and Height’s Boulevard at 9:30 pm. three masked gunmen jumped out of a black SUV brandishing handguns. They shot his dad as he pleaded for his life. They stole $2 from his wallet, a necklace with a shark tooth he wore for good luck, and robbed this sweet grandson of a father.

One problem today is that children experience and know things they are not spiritually, biologically, psychologically, and socially prepared for. As in the Scripture, there is a time and place for everything on the Earth and in Heaven. This was not the time nor the place to tell Tristan the honest hard truth. Instead, I said to Tristan, “No, this trumpet flower did not kill your dad. It was a different kind of poison. It was hate in the hearts of some men. They did not have enough love in their hearts.”

Tristan heard what I said and that was enough for the moment. The true facts would be revealed later to him by his mother when he was more able to hear them, process them, understand them, and maybe even forgive the unknown harbingers of death and hate.

God has spoken to us in Scripture as to sheltering His Children from harm.

Psalm 82:3-4
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Psalm 127:3
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Matthew 18:10
See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, please guide me to shelter Your children from harm including any words which they are unprepared to hear due to their age and ability to comprehend such truthful information or facts.

God, please help me to only say words as are appropriate for a child to hear at the time and to spare the child from truth which harms the vulnerable child.

God, please direct me to provide acts of love to every child. Those acts of love are the antidote to the hate and evil in the hearts of others. Amen

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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 visit 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 Help Others to Pray – November 7, 2021

November 6, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

In 1983 I was working late at the office. I was feverously preparing for a hearing the next morning. The phone rang. It was my father. Dad was calling from his hospital room. Just recently he had been transferred there for rehab services after being in a coma for a month.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Alicia Dad had unwisely climbed onto the roof of his barn to clear it of the mess of limbs, leaves, and other debris. What was even riskier were the leather sole shoes Dad wore.

Suddenly, one shoe lost its footing. Dad stepped forward with the other leg to unsuccessfully restore his balance. The only thing left for Dad to do was to instinctively wrap his arms around his head as he fell fifteen feet headfirst onto the concrete below.

I asked myself, “Why is Dad calling me? Is something wrong?” When I answered the call Dad said, “Bubba, I am having a problem. I am trying to say the Lord’s Prayer. I cannot remember all of the words. Can you please help me write down the ones I cannot recall?”

My mind shifted to what prayer did for me in the hospital at age six with polio. With prayer, God was with me when my Mom and Dad were not. I recalled what saying the Lord’s Prayer with Father Skarden Daubert each day did for me in the hospital.

I immediately left for the hospital. A few minutes later I was at the foot of Dad’s bed. He held a marker in one hand. He had written a few lines of the Prayer on the chalkboard next to his bed. First, I helped Dad say the words he could not recall. I watched him struggle to write them down. Soon all the verses of the Prayer were on the chalkboard. Dad wanted to see and say the Prayer as often as needed each day.

Unexpectedly, Dad asked me to do something with him he had never done before. “Bubba, before you leave would you please say the Lord’s Prayer with me?” My eyes filled with tears. We prayed as father and son. We prayed as two children of God. We knelt on the bended knees of our hearts to the same God. At that moment a polio survivor and a brain-injured man both needed God’s light, comfort, and love to enter the hospital room.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about praying with others.

Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

James 5:14-15
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up…..

Let us pray together.

Dear God, I thank You for being with me in prayer whenever I need You.

God, please open my eyes to see and seize opportunities to pray with others when needed.

God, in those moments of prayer may I not only ask You for healing, hope, and miracles. May I send You prayers of thanksgiving for the light, joy, life, and happiness You have gifted me and those who send You their prayers. Amen

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If you like this prayer, please share.