Bending Angel

Prayer for an Inward Journey – June 7, 2020

June 7, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here for the video of Jack’s prayer

The last two weeks have been filled with life and death, light and darkness, hope and despair, love and hate, the beautiful and the profane, unity and separation, trust and distrust, peace and violence, eyes looking up to space to the wonders in the stars and tearful eyes looking down on the streets in chaos and destruction, people who try to treat everyone the same and those who have not overcome prejudice or racism. Broken promises and hardships still exist in America. America, the land of liberty, freedom, and equality. One Nation under God.

For me, two events in the last two weeks have given birth to this prayer. One is the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. The other is the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 manned flight on May 30, 2020

At first blush these two events may seem disconnected. Not relevant to one another. Books placed on different shelves. After all, one is full of death, darkness, and despair. The other is euphoric eyes looking up to the heavens. To the mysteries in the stars. To the hidden treasures far beyond the gravity of the Earth.

In the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, we saw the amazing launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 pictured here. For a brief moment we took our eyes off what was happening on the streets of an America in crisis and on social media. For a few moments we stepped away from a journey far more important for each of us and within each of us than going to outer space. For any discovery mankind may find within or outside the boundaries of our solar system can never be more extraordinary than the sacred wonders of the spirit which dwell in each of us. To know who each of us are. A child of God. To know whose all of us are. Children of God. To find and attain the limits of our ability to deeply love others as deeply as God does.

God, we ask that You help us to pray every day. To be with You. To guide us in prayer to know how special each of us is to You. To know that we are all different, but You love us and see us all the same.

God, we pray that You accompany us in prayer to travel to the farthest depths of our capacity to love others as You love us.

God, in prayer may we know that no journey into space or on Earth can be more powerful, healing, or joyous than each of us finding You and sharing Your love with others.

God, we pray that one day no other child of Yours will suffer or die as George Floyd did. To that end may all human hearts find and claim the most sacred gift You ensouled in our hearts. Love.

God, may our inward journeys in prayer enable us to find that love You gave us. Then, to give Your blessed, healing, unifying, love to all Your children. In doing so our eyes need not look to the stars above to find wonder and awe. For Your heavenly love will be seen and shared on Earth with everyone and with our feet planted firmly in our faith in You. 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 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 See Others as God Does, a Prayer on the Death of George Floyd – May 31, 2020

May 31, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

For the video of Jack reading this prayer, please click here.

For years I had a neighbor, Margaret Lynn, who lived near our bay home, Camp PawPaw. She had outlived several husbands and survived breast cancer at 94 years of age. Even then, she was a volunteer with her local church, served at a senior living center, and was the sole caregiver to one of her daughters who was going blind from diabetes. Margaret took care of a neighbor who was an 80-year-old polio survivor. Margaret Lynn was one of those beautiful, caring, and wise old souls.

Each summer, Margaret canned her homegrown peaches. When I was at Camp PawPaw, I took every opportunity to be with her and listen to what she had to say. One of those times I was sitting with her as she peeled peaches on the back porch overlooking the Tres Palacios Bay.

Margaret had many practical sayings I devoted to memory. I have replayed them when I needed to apply them in my own life. I have shared them with others when I thought they might be helpful. This is one of those times.

Margaret said things like, “I don’t want to take up space. I want to do something. I want to help others. I want to be involved and to contribute.” “When I leave this world, I want to be all used up.” She thoroughly used the long life that God gave her for the good of others. Margaret died at age 103.

What I just wrote may appear not to be relevant on a prayer about the death of George Floyd last Monday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. But, it is. Other words from Margaret Lynn were shared with me on Facebook by her granddaughter Sissy Brett Taylor who lives in Austin.

Sissy quoted Margaret saying, “Never hold anything against someone that they have no control over” Sissy reflected that Margaret was talking about skin color. “It was given to us by God. All of us, every color. We are equal in His eyes.” Said in different words…The color of our skin is given to us by God. Yet, God sees us as all the same.

The death of George Floyd and the tragic deaths of other black people at the hands of white police officers sadly reminds me that white Americans have difficulty viewing people of color the way God does. Please do not get me wrong. For I do believe that there are millions of Americans, including white police officers, who are color blind and who see and treat their neighbors as themselves.

Due to the fact that I’m older than many of you, I witnessed as a young boy discrimination and hatred toward black people. In the Cy Fair Independent School District Carverdale was an all-black school for African-American children. All of the other schools were for white children only. I remember when the Board of Trustees of the Cy-Fair Independent School District voted to integrate all its schools. My father, Jack, was on the school board at the time and stood up with others on the board to vote for integration. Some parents protested integration. Dad quoted one father who opposed integration saying that he did not want his white daughters to go to school with black male students. There were more than a few white families who left the school district. Wrongfully, they stood up for segregation. They abandoned an inclusive view of the world and embraced their lesser views of humanity and did not see the sanctity of others.

I saw homeowners in upscale, all white neighborhoods massively fleeing their communities just because a well-to-do black couple purchased a home in their neighborhood. The economic losses in home values were dwarfed by the degree to which suffering and heartache took place because of fear, racial hatred, and the failure to love others.

On April 4, 1968 I heard about the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. One who advocated change without violence. Yet, he died from a bullet propelled by hate of a white male with a rifle. With all consuming hate there is no room left for others, for love, or for God.

It is true that there are more civil rights and liberties than ever before. Schools have been fully integrated. But, the events of this week demonstrate that wounds over the past 400 years have not yet been healed. George Floyd and others like him have needlessly died. In his death and others America is reliving the nightmare of racism and not MLK’s dream. The soul of America is crying out for healing and for the appreciation of the sanctity of all human life.

The death of George Floyd underscores the need for everyone who witnesses discrimination or bigotry or racist words to name it, to call it out for what it is and to do what can be done in every way to act as God would have us act….To love our neighbors as ourselves.

God, we pray that Your love comforts George Floyd, his friends and family and all other black men and women, their families and children who suffer because of hatred and racism.

God, we pray that Your love comforts and heals all who have suffered in the past and at present because of bigotry.

God, we pray for the officers who were directly involved in the death of George Floyd, that they take responsibility for their part in this event and that they ask for Your forgiveness.

God, we pray that Your peace descend upon the hearts of all persons such that the violence, riots, and the destruction of property ceases now and forever.

God, we pray that Your loving light washes away the dark stain of racial inequality and bigotry in America.

God, please open our eyes to see others as You do.

God, just as You see all Your children the same, why, oh why, can’t we? Amen

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Prayer That Water Be Turned into Wine, the Miracle within Marriage – May 24, 2020

May 23, 2020 by Jack Emmott 1 Comment

In December of 1972 on the pier on a tributary of Lake Houston beside a gingerbread house on Moonshine Hill Road in Humble, Texas I asked Dorothy to marry me. The memory of that day is as vivid now as is captured in this photograph of us in our early 20s. The start of an adventure in marriage which began on May 20, 1972.

I have made many choices in my life. Some good. Some bad. But of those choices, asking her to marry me was the best one I ever made. That day we did not have much luck with fishing. Yet, I made the best catch of all. Dorothy.

There is no doubt that God brought us together. Nor any doubt that we were meant to be husband and wife for life, for love, forever.

Like many of you, when I was a teenager and a young college student, I yearned to be loved. But I was different. Because of my faith, I felt deep down that I was special and was worthy to be loved. However, I was afraid that I would never meet a girl who could see me as a future husband.

Whether disabled or not, most of us are uncomfortable with how we look. To tall. Too short. Too heavy. To thin. To fair or dark skinned. Too freckled. Hair too straight. Too curly. Then, there was the curse of pimples in high school! If only we could find a cave to crawl into and to come out of and look gorgeous or handsome. The object of true love’s desire.

Before I met Dorothy, I asked myself who could really be attracted to me. Scoliosis. Legs and shoulders of different lengths. Steel rods in my back. Orthopedic shoes. The scars on my hands, back, right-upper leg and both ankles. Unable to do so much for myself. So dependent. Someone to be more cared for than to be a caregiver.

Jesus’s first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana 2000 years ago. Beginning in 1972 Dorothy’s love has been a Holy miracle of biblical proportions for me. For all those limitations, differences, and weaknesses have been healed by God’s love for me through her.

God gave me many talents. But, the best part of me is Dorothy.

I may never be the President of the United States, the Governor of Texas, a billionaire like Warren Buffett, a professional athlete or win the Pulitzer Prize for writing a book or getting a Grammy for writing a song. But, in Dorothy I am the richest husband on Earth.

I love 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV) so much so that it is on the cover of my book Prayerful Passages. The quote many of you know by heart is:

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

This week I celebrated another wedding anniversary. Another dozen roses, yellow this year. I kissed my blushing bride. I hope you do the same to your spouse.

With Dorothy’s help as my conscience, as my typist in law school at the University of Texas, and as my paralegal for more than 40 years, I have now the best me I have ever been. The best family law attorney I can be in serving others in trouble marriages. In Dorothy and in my work with divorcing couples I am blessed to witness every day examples of what it takes to have a good marriage, to keep it strong and to love ever more deeply.

Today, God I pray that You lead others to find their true loves. That in the sacrament of marriage unconditional love for one another be found. That in that miraculous love all married persons are healed as I have been healed just as You transformed water into wine at a wedding long long ago at Cana in Galilee.

God, I pray that You help each of us recognize the angels You send our way just as You helped me at age 23 see Dorothy for what she was and who she is….an angel, a living messenger of Your love for me. Amen

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Prayer for COVID 19 Lessons Learned from my Iron Lung – May 17, 2020

May 17, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To see Jack read this prayer, please click here.

This is the picture of the kind of iron lung I was in each day for four years. Thankfully, my journey in the iron lung ended in 1992. My iron lung rolled out the front door of my family home in Emmottville nearly 30 years ago. But, the iron lung and my journey in it left behind lessons in the darkness which changed my life forever. As God has said in Isaiah 45:3, I will give you hidden treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, who calls you by your name.

I hope these lessons from my iron lung will help you at this time.

Lesson 1 – We can overcome fear and uncertainty by trusting in God – When Dr. Vallbona placed me in the iron lung in 1988 at TIRR, I was overcome with fear. I felt that if I got in the iron lung I would never get out. Likewise, there is a great deal of uncertainty and fear in the Pandemic. Will it ever end? What will it do to me, my family, my job, my relationships with friends, and my ability to pay the bills or keep my business going? In the midst of this COVID 19 mess you can pray to God, as I did every dark day in the iron lung, and ask that God be with you. We are all on a greater and more important journey in life with God. God has special plans for you which are far above what is going on in the depths of the Pandemic.

Lesson 2 – When carrying the burden is too much for you to bear, you can ask God to carry the load you cannot bear alone – When I could not breathe for myself, the iron lung breathed for me. Likewise, God’s strength supplanted my weakness until I could exit the iron lung. During this Pandemic, when you feel vulnerable and weak, you can pray to God to receive strength, the newness of life, and the zest for living

Lesson 3 – When looking for hope in the Pandemic, all you need to do is turn to God in prayer and you will find hope – Every day I searched for the light at the end of the metal tunnel I was in for 4 years. In this Pandemic wherever you are you can turn your eyes in prayer to see God’s face. Just like a sunflower instinctively turns to face the sun to receive what it needs to thrive and survive, in facing or turning to God in prayer, you will receive the hope you need. The things to live for. To look forward to.

Lesson 4 – Do not fight what is required to succeed in the Pandemic. Be flexible – With God’s help, I learned that I could not fight the process of my recovery in the iron lung. I had to yield to the process. If I fought the iron lung, I would be a part of the problem and not part of the solution to recovery. Choose to be the best part of the process of handling the Pandemic. In prayerfully submitting to my iron lung, the iron lung became an unexpected place of worship. My sanctuary. Its breath became my breath. Its skin became my skin. The iron lung had no purpose in life without me. I could not fulfill my purpose without it. Moving through the Pandemic is a process too. Rigidity and resistance only make things worse. With flexibility during the Pandemic, you will be much better on the other side of it, but only if you submit to and agree to do what is required to make the most of it.

Lesson 5 – The Pandemic can be a teacher and an invitation to learn important lessons – In the iron lung, I asked God to show me things I could take with me when I got out of it. God answered my prayers. During the Pandemic, you can each learn lessons in this dark time. Happiness and success may be measured by what you gain in the Pandemic and not by what you’ve lost. For me, I am the best me I’ve ever been. My full-time calling as a Collaborative Divorce and family law attorney has never been more rewarding, productive, and helpful to others. That is because of the lessons I learned during my time in the iron lung.

God, please help each of us, the world, our nation, and the communities in which we live emerge from the Pandemic as better reflections of Your love on Earth.

God, please help us to find the treasures You promised were hidden in dark times. Treasures that deepen our relationship with one another. Lessons that bring us ever closer to You. Lessons to exit the Pandemic with which enable us to serve You better. To be more able to love others more deeply and live life more richly than ever before.

God, time like mine in an iron lung or our time today in facing the Pandemic is too important in Your kingdom to waste. May we not fail to find the riches within us You promised were waiting there for us. Amen

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Prayer to My Mother, for Ice Cream and Sweet Things – May 10, 2020

May 10, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To hear Jack read this prayer, please click here.

God – In 1958 before a family dinner and sitting around a picnic table under the pine trees on a warm summer day, my sister, Carolyn, took this picture with her Brownie camera. This photograph was taken in black and white. No color was needed to make a vibrant memory for me. Or to recall the sweet taste of the cool and creamy dessert. Mother’s homemade vanilla ice cream.

I do not know what possessed my sister to take the photograph. Maybe the Brownie camera was new and she was eager to use it. But, just maybe my sister was struck by the almost Norman Rockwellian character of the scene of her parents and mine so much in love with and devoted to each other. The kind of moment a child can never get enough of. The absence of drama. Faces at peace with one another. Simplicity of the task at hand. Genuine and transparent to both the eye and the heart. Togetherness. The joy of the moment made. The anticipation of consuming the result of each other’s contribution to be shared with their children, with family. Love frozen in time. Indelible sweetness.

As a Master Credentialed Collaborative Divorce Attorney, Mediator, father and grandfather, I see every day that this moment in 1958 is a powerful example of what all Your children need to see, to follow, to learn from, to replicate in their marriages when they grow up and have their own kids.

Admittedly, the image in this photograph is blurred. Yet the image is seen by me with such clarity and vividness on this Mother’s Day I feel I could really reach out and touch Mom on the Earth even though she is with You now in Heaven. I see the image for what it was and for what it is in black and white. Love. Your love for us through her and her love for me and our family.

What happened in cranking the ice cream bucket handle, in taking turns to share the burden, to churn and transform the ingredients from a warm mixture of milk, cream, eggs, and vanilla into an unforgettable delight. Ice cream to savor in my mouth as long as possible before swallowing and taking another bite. My bowl of ice cream would too soon disappear. There at the picnic table on one beautiful day. Then, gone but not really gone. As with my mother with You in Heaven. Like the memory, the blessing which keeps on blessing. The image giving birth to this prayer.

Watching the churning and the turning of the handle on the ice cream bucket was important for sure. But, God, what Mother did before she posed for the picture with Dad was important too. Standing in the kitchen pouring the milk and cream into the bowl. Adding just the right amount of Adams Vanilla Extract. Folding in the eggs. Stirring the long wooden spoon with care. Pouring the raw mixture into the pot on the oven and warming it just enough but being careful not to burn the potential feast.

Pouring the warm mixture into the container. Setting the container in the bucket. Then, adding layer after alternating layer of ice and salt until the bucket was full. I so much wanted to sample the ice cream when the handle could not be turned anymore. But, Mom made me wait. She showed me that some things are worth waiting for. The ice cream must be even colder. The bucket must topped off with ice and salt and packed. The ice cream must be cured. Some things in life take time. Sweetness from labor and love must wait to bloom. To happen.

God, I thank You for my mother’s love and for her homemade vanilla ice cream. Her love which made our house a home.

God, that day I learned that the ice cream was worth waiting for. Mom was right. That day we shared a fabulous meal with Mom and Dad. All topped off with Mom’s homemade vanilla ice cream

God, please tell Mom Happy Mother’s Day for me.
Please thank her for her love which gave us all something sweet from You.
Each other.
A mom.
A dad.
A sister.
Four brothers.
Some things are indeed worth waiting for.
And, as I hold this old photograph in my hand,
And, as I recall the taste of homemade vanilla ice cream,
I am older than Mother and Dad were in this photograph.
Yet I am blessed to still be Your child
And a child of a mom like her,
A mom who showed her son
What it takes to live and to love
With beauty and sweetness and care.
For me to taste a little bit of Your Heaven on Earth
And the everlasting love Mom has with You now.

God, may all Your children eat something today, like my mother’s ice cream, to take them back to the past, to their own cherished memories their moms made possible for them. In this challenging time of social distancing and worry may the taste of memories of a mother’s love bring them comfort too. May that give them hope that sweet things will soon come pass with prayer and faith in You. Amen

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Prayer to Make Room for Others – Insights from a May Day – May 3, 2020

May 4, 2020 by Ann Boland Leave a Comment

Click this link to hear Jack’s recording of this prayer.

God – When I was age 10 and attending fourth-grade at E. A. Post Elementary, there was a school production to celebrate May Day. All of the students and teachers coordinated this large festival production of singing, dancing, and wrapping streamers around the tall Maypole.

The event was big. But, being in a wheelchair, I felt very small. Very useless and insignificant.

I was rather out of place and uncomfortable. That is because what could I really contribute to the festivities being confined to a wheelchair because of polio? Clearly not dancing. I could not sing. Wrapping streamers around the Maypole was not physically possible.

Thankfully, the Principal at my school, Roy Metcalf, somehow knew that I needed to be included. He had written a script especially for me and asked me to be Master of Ceremonies. My job was to say inspirational things about the occasion and to lead everyone through each of the activities being performed on the field.

That experience of someone making room for me will never be forgotten. Because my Principal saw value in me, I grew up to find value within myself and others too. Isn’t that what we should do for others in service to You?

Many of Your places of worship are closed due to COVID-19. But, the doors of our hearts can and must remain open to share Your grace.

At this time of social and familial distancing, we cannot hug or shake hands. Smiles may not be seen by others as we wear our COVID-19 masks. But, there are countless things we each can do which reflect how You value us and, likewise, ways we can recognize and show appreciation of others.

For example,

To write handwritten notes as Your pen pal angels to others for them to receive messages of Holy hope from You.

To wave to others as they walk or ride a bicycle down the street where we live.

To say, “Thanks” to a cashier at a store’s check-out counter or at a drive-through window.

To invite a child to help bake cookies, make pizza or put flowers or tomato plants in the garden.

To ask a son or daughter to create a painting or drawing to place on a wall. (Children have talents and roles to be valued too).

Such simple acts mean so much now. But, such deeds, like Principal Metcalf’s act for me when I was 10, often make an incalculable difference in later years. Years when our self-worth is tested and when we need courage and strength to live and love by Your Word and to blossom in Your Kingdom.

If we ask You in prayer, “What can I do to make room for others?” “What small thing can I do to show my empathy and compassion to a friend or stranger at this difficult time?” You will certainly provide the answers.

God, not all of us can sing, dance on May Days, or weave colorful streamers around the Maypole. But, we can all celebrate Your unbounded loving inclusivity of all Your children….a love without borders….a church without walls……a place marked with a Cross far more glorious than any Maypole. A place I found in a Principal’s heart making room for me in fourth grade. A little act of kindness which made a huge difference in me.

Roy Metcalf died and is now with You in Heaven. Yet, his kindness lives on in me. Amen

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Prayer to Find Attitudes of Gratitude – April 26, 2020

April 26, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To hear Jack read his prayer, please click here.

God – I have a dear friend, Ann, who lives in Pensacola, Florida. One day she remarked to me that, “An attitude of gratitude is everything.” Likewise, often I have heard that a grateful heart is a happy heart. But, in life, in the living of it, and in love everyone struggles in feeling grateful and being thankful.

I was fortunate to be born happy, secure, and hopeful. But, others are not so lucky. Some of Your children are like Woody Allen, the actor. A trainer at a seminar I attended referred to Woody Allen as one who is “allergic to hope.” Often, I have to pray for and serve people who are like Woody Allen or Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh. That is a hard place to be for them. Being with them is not a point of light either.

Frequently, in my collaborative divorce and family law practice, I see many husbands and wives who are having a tough time seeing or appreciating the blessings You have given them. Or, appreciating the good qualities of their divorcing spouse, or the loving acts their spouse has done during their marriage, or the nurturing abilities the other spouse has with respect to their children.

Sadly, today, turning on the television and watching the news is generally not a source of good things which uplift us, except for the last 5 minutes of some of the programs. Considering all of the social media which incessantly bombards us, it is very easy to become cynical. To be dubious of the goodness in others. To question the true motivations of others towards their fellow men and women. Cynicism has now given birth to myths as truths or conspiracy theories which seem to spread an even darker view of the humanity You created.

God, this is sad. Because each of us needs to recognize that the life You have given us is a blessing. With prayer, a treasure is waiting to be found in every dark time, whether it’s in divorce, the death of a loved one, illness, the Coronavirus Pandemic, losing a job, separation from a loved, or loss of financial security.

Unexpectedly, in the darkness of an Iron Lung in 1988 I found a treasure of thankfulness with You in prayer.

I had developed respiratory fatigue because of the late effects of polio, more commonly known as the post-polio syndrome. As Dr. Carlos Vallbona placed me in the Iron Lung at TIRR, I struggled to find anything good or to be thankful for. Frankly, after polio, being in the Iron Lung, felt to me like being twice cursed. In the Iron Lung I prayed to have You to show me something, anything to be thankful for. Later, in prayer, I felt grateful to have had an exceptional doctor to care for me. To have had a machine (one viewed earlier as a mechanical beast) to inflate my lungs without me having to expend any effort on my own. Just as I could always depend on You, I could always count on the Lung giving me my next breath.

God, as I prayed to You, I looked up into the mirror above my head. I saw a middle-aged man across the room from me. The man was laying on his back. He had had a tracheostomy and was dependent on a ventilator. God, I then thanked You for me not being completely paralyzed and on a ventilator like him. I asked the man what happened to him. He said that he had worked for a tree company. A tree had fallen on him and broken his back which left him paralyzed from the neck down. Then, to my surprise, he said, “I’ve been looking at you in the Iron Lung. I don’t know how you stand being in an Iron Lung all day. I could never live that way.” I was thankful not to be in his condition. Remarkably, he was thankful not to be in mine. The point is that in each of us that day we found something in our conditions to be thankful for and to thank You for, my God.

So, God, please help all Your children to pray to You. In praying to You may each of us find hope. Something to be grateful for. Something to give You thanks for. Something to be worth living for.

God, please help each one of us to look for the goodness in every one of us. Especially now, for so many of us are having to do so much more with so much less.

God, please help those of us who are skeptical and cynical. Help them to see the goodness in others first and not to first expect others to be their worst selves. If we are each good enough to be loved unconditionally by You, may we find it in our hearts to see the goodness in ourselves and the lives You made possible for us and for our salvation.

In seeing that sacred goodness in ourselves and others, then, perhaps we may give You our most humble thanks and praise. Bad will be transformed into good. Curses will become blessings. The divides between our views of the world and one another will be reconciled with love and thanksgiving.

God, please help us find attitudes of gratitude. Amen.

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Prayer for Teaching and Learning to Love at Home – April 19, 2020

April 18, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To hear Jack read his prayer, please click here.

God – Because of the Coronavirus Pandemic 1.5 billion children and 60 million teachers around the globe are not in schools. In America 30 million public school students are now in need of learning at home. Their parents who need to be earning a living outside the home are now learning to teach their children inside the home. Even if children have a parent who is a public school teacher, teaching at home is so very different and more challenging than in the classroom.

Polio became my stay-at-home order which required me to be home schooled from ages 7-11. Dorothy Carlton, a Pioneer in homebound teaching, was brought into my home by the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District to be my teacher. Mrs. Carlton’s visits to my home for those 5 years taught me many lessons in learning to share with others today.

First, Mrs. Carlton and my mother brought a desk from school to my home. The screened in porch became my classroom. But, at least I had a desk like all the other students had in public school. The important thing was not that I had the normal school desk. The important thing was that Mrs. Carlton and my mother made me a room or place in my home which was suitable for learning. This was the place in which to learn. It was safe. It was quiet. It was mine. So, God, please help all parents to find suitable places in their homes for their children to learn.

Second, Mrs. Carlton, put in place for me a daily and weekly schedule to be with her. When I was not with her, it was my responsibility to get my homework done. Her responsibility was to teach. My responsibility was to learn. Over time my mind, spirit, and body became in sync with this structured routine. Though difficult at first, over time it became more natural. My nature was to become a better student each day. So, God, please help all parents establish a consistent daily schedule for learning, including a time for play.

Third, although Mrs. Carlton had a clearly defined in-home classroom schedule, each day she made allowances for my personal and mental health. Like their parents, kids have good days and bad days as well. So, God, please help parents in their homes to have a set schedule. But, help parents to remember that having a set schedule is not as important as having, building, and maintaining a good relationship with their children. Please help them discern when flexibility is needed and how to avoid the kind of words and rigidity which cause harm. To their children’s hearts. To their children’s minds. To their children’s desperate need to have a loving relationship with their parents.

Fourth, God, every child is a precious gift from You. In every child there are treasures and talents to be found, nurtured, and developed. No parent or teacher should diminish the beautiful and sacred gifts within the children You have bestowed in them. I am reminded of Anita Wheatcroft, wife of the Episcopal priest, the Rev. Richard Wheatcroft of St. Francis Episcopal Church Houston. One of the gifts You gave her was creative writing. In that gift she was born left-handed in nature. During that time in history being left-handed was scorned and squelched when possible by parents and teachers. In her childhood Anita’s nanny was instructed to tie Anita’s left-hand behind her back forcing her to use her right hand all day. Anita overcame all of that as an adult and became a successful author of children’s books. Not every child is able to overcome the stronghold a parent or teacher can place on the flowering of a child’s inner gifts and talents. So, God, please help parents nurture their children’s nature and natural talents.

Fifth, in 2020, it seems like a poor reward for a teacher to give to a student. But, I cannot tell You, God, what it meant to me when Mrs. Carlton gave me those sticky Gold Stars to reward my achievements, even the small ones. Each time she placed a Gold Star on a satisfactory homework or test page, it said to me, “You are a good boy.” So, God please help parents to show their appreciation to their children when they succeed in tasks well done.

Sixth, my teacher, Mrs. Carlton, loved to teach. So I, as her student, loved to learn. Students, including children at home, do not learn from people they do not like, including their parents. So, God, so please help all parents display joy, zest, and love for learning to their children.

Seventh, God please help parents learn and practice patience in the teaching of their children. Please help parents who teach to schedule their own times for rest and relaxation. All work and no play is not good for children or for their parents.

Eighth, God, thankfully in parents educating their children at home, there is no separation of Church and State. That is because at home, the state of their relationship with You is most important and always worthy of celebration and observation. So, God, please encourage all parents who teach their children at home to schedule daily prayer and Scripture reading to be with You.

God, You are the best teacher for all Your children. May all parents lead, learn, and love by Your amazing Grace and perfect example. Please guide all parents in teaching and learning to love at home. In that way their children will learn to love and serve You. Amen.

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Jack’s Easter Prayer – That Life Begins with Death – April 12, 2020

April 12, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

If you would like to listen to Jack reading his prayer, please click here.

God – I love Easter like millions of Your children around the world. It rekindles in me so many warm and wonderful memories of my childhood.

On Easter mornings getting up early with my sister and brothers and rummaging around our home to find the eggs the Easter Bunny had left for us. Eating far too many jelly beans. Holding the little chicks and cuddly rabbits our parents gave us. Going to our church to worship with my family. I and my siblings wearing Easter white clothes our mother had made for us with her Singer sewing machine. After church, posing for family pictures. The tradition of sitting around the table, holding hands, saying grace and eating Mom’s tasty meals. The beautiful clothed table adorned with napkins, china, crystal, and silver. Attending the Emmottville family Easter Egg Hunt with my grandparents, 18 aunts and uncles and 45 first cousins.

God, however, all of this joy is set against what is most important to me and for all Christians around the globe. The death and resurrection of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

How inconceivable it must have been on that dark day in Calvary for His mother, Mary, and all who witnessed His crucifixion to foresee that Your Son’s death was truly the beginning of His eternal life with You.

As human beings, don’t we think that life is linear? We are born. We live. We suffer. We get old and die. But, in You, I have learned that my spiritual life began in a death of sorts. That I, as all Your children, have crosses in life and love to bear just as I have borne the heavy cross of polio and paralysis.

Because of this blessed Easter day and the sacrifice of Your precious Son, Jesus Christ, the end of our Earthly lives is just the beginning of our Eternal life with You.

Likewise, we experience a kind of death in bearing our own crosses as with the Coronavirus Pandemic at this time—the end of normalcy, the relationships and personal health we have taken for granted, the ability to be with and care for those who need us. The end of a good night’s sleep. Being at peace and feeling secure. But, as a sort of Holy miracle aligned with Your Easter message to Your children, such trials and endings are all transformed into new beginnings. To be closer to You.

God, on this Easter day I thank You for Your grace and for Your sacrifice.

When I suffered polio and was paralyzed at age 6, I am certain my parents, just as Mary at the foot of her son’s Cross, felt that all their previous plans for my life had ended, had died. But in the light and love of Easter and in the glorious sunrise of hope You represent to the world, I have learned that my life and the living of it with You and in You did not end. Rather, it is when my life truly began. 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 120-lawyer full service firm in Houston, 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 Those Isolated from Loved Ones – April 5, 2020

April 5, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To see a video of Jack Emmott reading his prayer, please click here.

God – To be alone can be as deadly as the Coronavirus itself. To be isolated from those you love inflicts as much damage as the virus itself.

God – When the NBC reporter Janis Mackey Frayer was reunited with her 6-year old son, after seven weeks covering the Coronavirus Pandemic and her subsequent 14-day period in quarantine, I remembered myself as a small boy at Hedgecroft Hospital.

I will never forget the terror of being left alone at age six when my mother and father walked out of my room. Nor the tears of joy when I returned home months later to their loving arms.

What I experienced on that first day of isolation is being repeated around the world when men, women, and children are isolated from those they love when they most need the comfort and healing touch to survive the Coronavirus.

On August 26, 1954 Mom sat silently and stroked my hair as I laid in her lap on the backseat of the Delta 88 automobile. Dad drove to the hospital and said not a word. He knew for certain the directions to the hospital. Yet, he had no idea where polio would take me or my life or impact our family.

Mom and Dad followed alongside the orderly who pushed me on a gurney into a large room with other patients in beds and in iron lungs. The nurse said that Mom and Dad could only remain for a few minutes. Then, they must leave.

I was placed in a baby crib with iron bars (as there were no other beds in the hospital for me). I had no TV to watch. I could not move anything below my neck. I had no strength to push the button to call a nurse. No phone to call home.

So, I did what every child would do at that stark moment of fear and loss of control. I quietly asked my Mom to please stay with me. Mom said the hospital rules did not allow that. Then, I repeatedly screamed for her to stay. With eyes full of tears, Mom turned and rushed out of the room. In disbelief Mom and Dad were gone.

God, at that moment, I felt that Mom and Dad had abandoned me when I needed them the most. But, even then, they had left something in the hospital room amidst the patients, doctors, and nurses I did not know. Prayer.

God, I thank You for the minister, Skarden Daubert, who visited me every day in the hospital. He placed a prayer book in my hands and said prayers with me. He is with You now. The gift of prayer from You, parents, and Rev. Daubert will remain with me until my last breath.

God, in prayer, with Your love please lessen the pain experienced by millions of Your children who are isolated from their loved ones. Not just those who suffer from the virus. But those whose lives and callings take them away from those they love. The first responders. The truckers. The nurses. The doctors. The respiratory therapists. The EMT’s. Our leaders and ministers of all faiths.

Please lift up the hearts of those who are not able to be at the bedside of those they love when their earthly lives end and their eternal lives begin with You and in You.

We thank You for the moments of heavenly bliss when others are reunited with loved ones just as reporter Janis Mackey Frayer is seen hugging her beloved little boy.

God, prayer was not a cure for my polio. Prayer may not cure the Coronavirus or end this Pandemic. It will heal what medicine cannot. Amen

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