Bending Angel

Prayer for the Bit of George the Pelican in Each of Us – March 7, 2021

March 7, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here for Jack’s video version of this prayer.

Last week’s prayer on the Everlasting Legacy of Love originated from observing George the Pelican and witnessing his return to the place he received love and acceptance from our neighbor Mertz. Mertz’s legacy of love touched many on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. I appreciated all the comments on Facebook. In particular, an email from Michael Craig, one of my dearest friends and wonderful collaborative divorce attorney, struck me in the heart. So much so Michael’s remarks became the basis of this week’s sequel prayer and the title of this prayer.

Michael wrote:

Dear Jack, A marvelous prayer and a wonderful illustration of love and devotion. This legacy of love is truly something to hand down to our children and our children’s children. Sadly, it also reflects the nature of a widow or widower after a half-century with a devoted spouse. Old habits and committed love die hard. Many of my continual habits of affection with Betty, even during this last chapter of her life in a cloud of Alzheimer’s, will continue by virtue of habit after she is gone. And so there is a bit of George in each of us. A habit that is not so much a longing as one that retains a fond memory.

In this long time of the Long Goodbye, Michael has made sure that as there is less and less of Betty there is more and more of him. More and more of his love. More and more of the Light of God in his service to Betty, his devoted wife, and bride.

Michael observed that soon Betty will be gone to make her final journey to Heaven to join the God she faithfully served in her ministry at The Foundry United Methodist Church in Jersey Village, Texas. But like George, Michael knows that as long as his heartbeats and his mind can remember, he will return each day to the place where Betty was with him and where he received her devoted love and care.

Whether due to Alzheimer’s, cancer, a tragic accident, the Coronavirus or just old age, the truth Michael speaks is that there is a George the Pelican in all of us. The person who is left behind. The one who remembers. The one who returns to the place love was received. The place where love was given. To feed on glorious memory and the innumerable blessings God bestowed on the one left behind through the kindness, care, and love of the departed. God has spoken to us in Scripture about what happens to those left behind and what fills the void and the darkness in the wake of the death of loved ones.

Luke 1:78-79

Because of our God’s deep compassion, the dawn from heaven will break upon us, to give light to those who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide us on the path of peace.

Revelation 21:4-5

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

Let us pray together.

God, we thank You for Michael Craig’s enlightened words that there is a bit of George the Pelican in all of us.

God, we thank You for Betty and all others who have lived, served, and loved in Your name. God, when we sit in the pain of loss and in the darkness of grief, please give us peace and light.

God, please embrace the bit of George in all of us with Your never-failing love, comfort, and healing. 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 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.

Photo credit: Parade.com

Prayer for the Everlasting Legacy of Love – February 28, 2021

February 28, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

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

For the last five months Dorothy and I have sought refuge from the Coronavirus at Camp PawPaw. Camp PawPaw overlooks Tres Palacios Bay with a myriad of water fowl to entertain us from dawn until sunset each day. Some of the water creatures seem to perform the same way day after day. Others appear for a few weeks and will not be seen again for a while in observance of migratory habits rooted in ancient history.

One repeat performer is a beautiful Brown Pelican who lands nearly every day on the stair rail of Sissy Taylor’s pier a few houses down from us. The Pelican is an elder by human standards. He has an 18-inch-long bill and a large throat pouch. His head is white in front and dark brown in the back. This regal bird has silver-gray feathers that adorn the rest of his body.

Judging by his appearance our frequent Pelican visitor must be about 25-30 years old. Clearly near the end of his time on Earth.

Countless times Dorothy and I have wondered why the Pelican returns to this unlikely perch. All the other Pelicans sit on the ends of the neighboring barnacle encrusted navigation posts in the bay or lined up like a platoon of Army soldiers on the ends of the piers at the conclusion of their exhausting day dive bombing for fish in the bay. But not our Pelican. He is committed to always return to the same perch. But, why?

The mystery became clear a couple of weeks ago. Our friend, Sissy Taylor, explained it to us. Twenty years or so ago there lived in a neighboring house a Magnus Mertz. Known to everyone simply as Mertz. Each day Mertz cast for bait fish with his casting net. A Pelican landed near him. He stood there as if to ask Mertz to be served him a meal, his daily bread from man to a feathered friend. Mertz gave the Pelican part of his catch. After that first meeting, the Pelican and Mertz repeated that ritual nearly every day for the years which followed. They eventually, became such good friends Mertz named the Pelican George. Soon George was following Mertz into his garage to be hand-fed mullet and just hang out with him.

Mertz moved away from Palacios a few years later to live closer to his family. Relocating to be with family was a huge win for Mertz. But, it was a big loss for George.

So, even now, many years later and without receiving his daily bread and friendship from Mertz, George still returns. Still remembers. Still sits on his perch. To be at kind of holy place. A place that Dorothy and I witness and appreciate Mertz’ everlasting legacy of love to George. George officiates the sacred happening that we are fortunate to know and celebrate because we understand the mystery revealed to us by Sissy.

God has spoken to us in Scripture as to the legacy of love.

Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.

Psalms 78:4
We will not keep them from our children; we will tell the next generation about the Lord‘s power and his great deeds and the wonderful things he has done.

3 John 1:4
I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.

God, I thank You for the lesson in the everlasting legacy of love as represented by George, the Brown Pelican, on Tres Palacios Bay.

God, in prayer please guide, support and enable me to leave an everlasting legacy of love in my service to You and Your children.

God, when I have joined You in Heaven, please show to others on Earth the signs of my works in Your name as I have witnessed in watching the George, the Brown Pelican. Each day he pays homage to the blessings he received from his friend, the fisherman and the giver of daily bread that feeds George’s soul forever and ever. 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.

Prayer in Thanksgiving for the Life of Mary Ann Maxwell – February 21, 2021

February 22, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

With her life-long devoted friend Carol Waldrop at her side in Rockport, Texas on February 6, 2021, Mary Ann Maxwell left the Earth.

In sending her to us God had special plans for Mary Ann’s life. The gifts which He bestowed upon Mary Ann enabled her to become a world-renowned bridal authority. First, working at Saks Fifth Avenue in Hollywood, California. Then, at Neiman Marcus and Sakowitz in Houston. Thereafter, Mary Ann opened her own extremely successful bridal consulting business in 1978.

For more than 40 years Mary Ann was chosen by brides in Texas, in America, and from royalty to be adorned with glamour and beauty.

At the age of 9 in 1936 in Dallas, Texas at the Texas Centennial Exposition (Texas State Fair) Mary Ann was selected to hand over to child movie star and Honorary Chief of the Rangerettes, Shirley Temple, a cowgirl doll made in Shirley’s image. Now, it is only fitting that the angels have handed over to God Mary Ann’s spirit to hold in His arms.

God, in prayer we thank You for the life and love of Mary Ann Maxwell.

God, we trust that our dear Mary Ann through resurrection and Your grace has now become one with You, the Father of us all. 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.

Prayer in Grieving for the Loss of Pets – February 7, 2021

February 6, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here for Jack’s video version of this prayer.

I have a picture of my dad, Jack, age 2, holding his favorite chicken in the backyard of his grandmother’s house near Washington and Heights Boulevard in 1922. On January 23, 2021, he would’ve been 102 years of age. Dad died in 2015. His grandmother, Catharine Mary Emmott, the Mother of Memorial Park died in 1948. The grand home is gone too. But, the memory of my dad holding that chicken endures. It is somehow timeless.

Dad was stationed in Italy for five years in WWII. He talked to me about the beauty of Rome, Florence, and Milan. But like the Greatest Generation, he never talked about the war. Another thing he almost never did in my presence was cry.

I recall only two times I saw him cry. He wept in our living room when his bird dog, Pirate, died unexpectedly during the veterinarian’s attempt to kill heartworms before they ended up killing his beloved dog. Dad was so grief-stricken he did not even wipe the tears from his eyes and face.

The second time was when he had to put down Rudy, his black German Shepard, when the dog was so ill, he could no longer get up from the ground on his four legs. Dad petted Rudy’s forehead several times. Then, Dad loaded his WWII German Lugar 22 Caliber Pistol. With a trembling hand and broken heart, pulled the trigger and gave his dear pet, Rudy, a merciful ending to a life well-lived.
Don’t get me wrong. I am sure that Dad grieved for the loss of his wife, my mother Lucile, his parents, siblings, and close friends. But, openly crying in the sight of others was not something I ever witnessed except for Pirate and Rudy.

On Facebook, everyone sees and shares the grief which happens when their four-footed pet dog or cat becomes a memory of the past and another of God’s angel creatures in Heaven. I think the tears of my father and such sharing of grief on Facebook demonstrates just how much the relationship with our pets teaches us about the unconditional love of God. How great it would be if every one of us as God’s children could be as unconditionally loving as Pirate and Rudy were to Dad or as loving as your pets have been to you, my friends.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about what can be taught to us by our pets and uplifting words to heal our grief for the loss of them.

Job 12:7-10
7 But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.
9 Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.

Revelation 21:4-5
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new! Then he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

God, in prayer, we thank You for our beloved pets for through them You’ve taught us about Your unconditional, everlasting love.
God, in prayer, please help us to love one another as we are loved by Your creatures, great and small.

God, in prayer, please provide to each of us the comfort and care we need to heal the grieving for the loss of our pets.

God, in prayer, may we receive Your holy hope that one day we will be reunited in Heaven with our pets. That our barking and purring fur angels will be seen racing to greet us. That we may share with them in Heaven the love which lasts forever and ever. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

Prayer for Angel Eyes Who See Something and Say Something – January 17, 2021

January 17, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

For the video of Jack’s prayer, please click here.

I believe in God.

I believe in angels.

Angels in Heaven.

Angels on Earth.

Angels, God’s holy messengers of love and protection.

Angels who are not confined to history and the Bible.

Like the Angel Gabriel or Jacob’s Angel or the Guardian Angel Michael.

Living angels, here and now.

Like the twelve living angels in my book, Bending Angels.

Living angels are everywhere, like Flaviane Carvalho, a Florida restaurant employee, who opened her angel eyes. She saw with her heart a sad 11-year-old boy seated with his family at a Mrs. Potato Restaurant in Orlando, Florida on Dec. 31, 2020.

Flaviane noticed the boy had scratches and bruises. She became more concerned when his parents didn’t order him anything to eat.
Flaviane asked herself, “How can I know that this boy needs help?’ Instantly, she wrote and flashed a note to the boy when his parents weren’t looking. “Do you need help?” When the boy nodded and crossed his arms across his chest, she called 911. This living angel was a messenger to the police of God’s love and protection for this boy.

The police arrived within minutes. The police took the boy to a hospital, where doctors found numerous bruises. He also was 20 pounds underweight.

The boy told detectives that he had been tied up and hung upside down from a door in his home. Also, he had been beaten by his stepfather, handcuffed, and denied food.

The boy and his sister are now out of harm’s way. The angel saw something. Said something.

The abused boy was saved by a note and the angel eyes of a waitress.

God has said in Scripture that angels see, act, and have a place on Earth and in Heaven.

Exodus 23:20
Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

Hebrews 1:14
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Psalm 91:11-12
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up…

Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained

God, in prayer we thank You for Your angels on Earth and in Heaven.

God, in prayer may we see the guardian angels You have appointed to watch over us, night and day.

God, in prayer please call us to be Your living angels on Earth. That we may have the eyes of angels to see and say something to protect all Your children from harm as Flaviane did for the 11-year old boy in Orlando.

God, if we see others in harm’s way or in need, please help us to take the next step, like Flaviane, to say something, to do something, and to lead them to the place You have prepared for them.

God, we may not have the chance to save a child from abuse. But, we can see the lonely neighbor next door and pay a visit, or the poor lady counting pennies in the grocery store line and buy her food, or a cold homeless man sleeping on the street and hand him a blanket. There are tens and tens of thousands of Your angels, may we each be one for You. 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.
https://www.amazon.com/Jack-H-Emmott/e/B01BZFHSBW%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_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.

Photo credit: GoFundMe.org

A Common Prayer for an Uncommon Time in America – January 10, 2021

January 10, 2021 by Jack Emmott 1 Comment

Click here for Jack’s video version of this prayer.

When I was six with polio and in quarantine in the hospital, at my age, I was incapable of understanding how a democracy works, the importance of the rule of law, or in following the United States Constitution. I did know that I did not understand why I could not move my arms or legs or why I could not be home with Mom and Dad. I did not understand how I could ever fit in again or how I could ever belong to what had been or what I had taken for granted.

In that lonely place, an Episcopal minister came into my hospital room dressed in black, a white clerics collared shirt, a smile, and holding a little red book which to me became a sort of Declaration of Independence from the bondages of paralysis.

Father Skarden Daubert said, “Son, I have a small book of prayers I want to give you.” He carefully opened the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and placed the book in my hands. I could not turn the pages. But, I was always able to do what Skarden Daubert asked of me next. “Son, would you like to say a prayer with me from this book?” I nodded, yes.

Almost every day that year at Hedgecroft Hospital Father Daubert came into my room and brought the love and hope of God to me as we prayed together. Most of the emptiness in not understanding my condition and loneliness was filled with what he and prayer did for me every day.

As I held that book of prayers in my hands (which got stronger every day like my faith in God), I swear I could almost feel the healing hands of Jesus holding mine.

Before I was discharged to go home to my family, Father Daubert wrote his name and an inscription in that book just for me. Eight years later I took that prayer book with me to Cy-Fair High School every day. The Principal, Roy Metcalf, asked me to say a prayer over the intercom to the teachers and students at the beginning of classes each day just before the Pledge of Allegiance.

One morning I came to the front office to say the daily prayer. My prayer book was missing. I never found it.

Last week in Washington D.C. at the Capital when the Electoral Votes were being counted a lot happened that I could not understand either. It was not my little red prayer book, but something very special and highly important to America was missing.

And to address the lack of understanding and what was missing and what is needed to heal this Nation as I was healed from polio many years ago, I ask, “Would you, my brothers and sisters, say this prayer with me from that little red Book of Common Prayer?”

Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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 Virtually Meet with God, No Zoom App Required – January 3, 2021

January 4, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

For the video version of Jack’s prayer, please click here.

Living, loving, and working during the Pandemic in 2020 were real challenges for me and for you. To survive and succeed we needed to adapt in many unexpected ways. We had to make use of technology to work remotely, to restore our pantries with food by online shopping, and to stay in touch with those we have been separated from. To stay connected with those we could not hold. Those we could not touch. Those we could not even extend handshake greetings at a business meeting or embrace another in church to share God’s peace.

Out of necessity, I resorted to virtual technology to do what I did before in person in my calling as a Collaborative Divorce Lawyer. At my age, I have gone from being a Boomer to becoming a Zoomer.

Although there are many benefits of virtually meeting with others, I have had to overcome challenges in the use of this technology. I needed a powerful internet signal. A high-resolution camera to be seen by others. To be clearly heard, a background noise-canceling microphone. A selfie light to look my best to others. An iPhone, iPad and a desktop to make long-distance virtual relationships work. The latest Zoom software so that in communicating with others I could be heard and I could effectively listen to what others were saying.

Despite the virtues of virtual communication and the best technology, I still have had difficulties. Loss of electrical power. Interruption of cable or satellite signal. Frozen images. Garbled words from speakers. Voices that are in audible or echo back at me.

This morning as I was about to begin my daily prayer I had a question. “What if I could communicate with God by Zoom?” Instantly, I realized what should have been obvious to me. For generations, we, as children of God, have been communicating virtually with God.

Although we would like to reach out and physically embrace God or see God’s Face with our eyes, that is not possible. Despite that, we all have a virtual relationship with our Creator through prayer. Isn’t prayer far easier, more convenient, and more accessible than Zoom could ever be?

In prayer, each of us can virtually communicate with God and have a close relationship with God without the necessity of any technology or material things. Sadly, those who have suffered most in the Pandemic do not have a job from which to work remotely or any money to buy the technology to use virtual communication. The good news is that they and we in prayer can receive all of the benefits of Zoom, of virtual communication with God without downloading software or buying equipment and accessories.

As with Zoom, we can meet with God at any time, any place, without traveling to another destination, without waiting, without spending money, without incurring travel expenses. The simple truth is that prayer is our Internet connection, our virtual sacred pathway to have a direct relationship with our living God. In prayer, we can share with God unlimited information and our entire concerns in real-time. In prayer, there is nothing we cannot say or turn over to God. No burden so heavy which we cannot surrender to our loving God. There is no limitation on how our powerful God and wise Lord may answer our needs, our questions, or our prayers.

Although many of us prefer kneeling as we pray to God, the only position that we need to assume is how and where we find ourselves at any given moment. There is no need to sit in front of a camera or desk. I can and do pray to God in my wheelchair. We can speak with God in our cars, in the kitchen, in the shower, or bathtub. God is virtually with us wherever we are.

In prayer, we are able to do something that Zoom can never do for us. We can speak to God without even saying a human word. For God even hears our thoughts. And, in prayer, we can hear God’s words without God speaking to us in human voice.

One reason Zoom is so beneficial is that it saves organizations millions of dollars. It brings the world closer to one another. It is Green. Using it does not add to the carbon footprint. No carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere from exhaust fumes from air and land travel. For those who are concerned about the environment, I think prayer is the ultimate environmentally-friendly form of activity on Earth. The only fuel needed to have a virtual relationship with God is our love for Him and trust that God is listening to us in prayer. In prayer, we are brought nearer to God and ever closer to one another.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about prayer.

Jeremiah 29:12
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Job 22:27
You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.

Psalm 17:6
I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.

God, in prayer please help each of us to make time for You, for You are always present for us.

God, in prayer please help us to see our precious virtual, meaningful relationship with You.

God, please help us know that prayer is the best part of every day.

God, please help us to set aside a few minutes every day to pray and to thank You for the innumerable benefits and blessings You have bestowed upon 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.

Image credit: thedepotchurch.org

Prayer for Room in the Manger in My Heart – Christmas 2020

December 25, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

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

Last evening a strong cold front with blustery winds came to Texas. The shallow waters were blown out into the Gulf of Mexico leaving the canal empty behind my bay home. Even the Kingfishers, Seagulls, Brown Pelicans, and Great Herons appeared to hunker down just as I have for nine long months in the Pandemic.

This morning the clouds gave way to bright sunlight. Now the bay is sky blue. God and His Angels through Nature seem to herald that darkness is giving way to light and the birth of renewed hope.

On social media, I hear the earthly voices of our brothers and sisters crying for food. For healing human touch. For comfort. For the ability to let go of grieving for loved ones who have died. Voices pleading for what had been before the Coronavirus came to America.

As I exit Advent darkness, I recall my mom’s sweet and beautiful small ceramic hand-painted Nativity Scene. Mom died ten years ago. Even though I have no idea where it is now, I can vividly see little Baby Jesus in the manger. In the miniature manger, I still witness God’s gift of hope, love, and eternal life to me and you. I hear heavenly voices calling to me in the darkness. To step forward. To look up to the Light of Christ.

We know who was in the manger in the stable in Bethlehem. But what is in the manger of your heart because of that transformative, seemingly impossible Holy and Devine birth? In your walk of faith, how did that birth transform you? What did that birth create in the manger of your heart?

As God has said in Scripture,
1 John 4:9
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

God, as we leave Advent darkness please help us to make room in the manger of our hearts for the Light of Christ to dwell.

God, we have brothers and sisters in Christ who have little or no food or water or a stable for shelter. Please provide for them and comfort them.

God, out of the fruit of our labors may we generously give in Your Holy Name our time and money to Your less fortunate children who now have so much more of so much less.

God, please make room in the manger of our hearts to carry the love and light of Your blessed Son to others who are desperately in need of Holy hope, healing, and sustenance. 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 to Hear the Christmas Bell Forever – December 20, 2020

December 19, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

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

In the Advent-like darkness of death, suffering, and separation from the Pandemic many of us are looking for hope? For healing? For the ending of a horrible disease that has deafened our senses? To see the light? To hear Holy Hope amidst the clatter of the struggles we and others are facing.

Sometimes we are drawn to beacons of light-filled hope when things are the darkest. We see the stars in the heavens when the skies are the darkest. Don’t we? Inexplicably, we find ourselves drawn closer to God the farther away we feel He is from us.

In the darkness of Covid 19, we have lost so much. I did with polio. We have also gained a lot in the Pandemic as I did from polio. With God’s help in the dark times and living a life with my disabilities I have been able to more clearly see, hear, touch, and feel joy, light, hope, and most importantly, love.

How many of you, like me, had unbridled anticipation and wonder as a child waiting for Santa to arrive and leave presents under the Christmas Tree?

How many of you, like me, found joy in singing Christmas carols at church or going door to door in your neighborhood to share the gift of God’s peace and joy in song during the holidays?

How many of you, like me, felt that you were safely held in the arms of God when you attended Christmas Eve or Christmas Day church services? In addition to the birth of Christ, child-like mystery and wonder had a secure place in the manger of my heart. Yours too, I imagine.

Thanks to the Grace of God and the talents of scientists around the world, hope is at hand. Amazingly, in less than a year, we have multiple vaccines against Covid 19 being administered.

On December 21st, another source of light, the Great Conjunction, will occur when Jupiter and Saturn align in the night sky for the first time in nearly 400 years. Will we be witnessing the Christmas Star? The one the Three Wise Men saw more than 2000 years ago to guide them to the stable in which God’s Eternal Life and Hope for us was born? Or possibly the Great Conjunction may be the intersection of astronomic reality and our faith in God?

Another source of light for me and millions of others is the movie, Polar Express. At the end of the movie the Hero Boy who had become an older man said, “….at one time, most of my friends could hear the bell. But as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found, one Christmas, that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I have grown old, the bell still rings for me. As it does for all who truly believe.”

Many of you have young children and grandchildren who still hear the Christmas Bell. During the Pandemic, many of you may have either lost or have greater difficulty hearing the sounds of joy and wonder. In seeing light. In believing in wonder, mystery, and hope.

With prayer, love, and aging I can still hear the Christmas Bell. As I witness millions of men and women across America and the world receive Covid-19 vaccinations. As I look up at the Great Conjunction on December 21st. As I think about the Hero Boy who never outgrew the ability to hear the Bell, I reflect on God’s Words.

Isaiah 40:31
….. but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God, in prayer, please help us know that in times of darkness and light we are always safely held in Your Loving Arms.

God, in prayer, please safeguard our ability to hear the voices of Your angels and the ringing of Christmas bells in our hearts.

God, on Christmas Day may we hear Your proclamation that in You and Your Son, Jesus Christ, peace, love, wonder, hope, and life never die. Amen

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Prayer for the Spirit of Forrest Gump to Dwell in Us – December 13, 2020

December 14, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

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

During this Pandemic, it is interesting how unexpectedly things come out of the blue and hit your heart with the force of a locomotive. To take you from where you are at the moment. Then, propel you backwards in time. Then, sling you forward into the future. Then, take you back again to where you were originally. In those few fleeting moments your heart is in a much different place than where you began.

Recently, Dorothy and I had just finished dinner. As we ate pecan pie, I noticed Forrest Gump the movie, was on YouTube TV. I turned the movie on.

As a young boy with a curved spine, Forrest wore braces on his legs. Like Forrest, I, as a young boy with polio, wore a Milwaukee Brace to support my curving spine. With prayer and hard work, I had hope that brace would disappear. When Forrest ran in the movie, his leg braces miraculously broke into pieces. At that moment I was a young boy running next to him. Unlike Forrest, my back brace did not disintegrate. I was never able to run with or without the brace. But despite that, like Forrest, I was born and blessed by God with the kind of hopeful spirit we all need. Hope and dreams I still have. Gifts I received from God.

Then, came the scene when Forrest sat in a chair by his mother lying in bed. Forrest’s mother announced that she was dying. Forrest asked his mother why. She said, “Death is just part of life”. Just like birth. It was her time. That time comes for all of us.

Then, I found myself with my mother ten years ago when she was near death. Receiving the Last Rights. As experienced by Forrest in his mother’s death, a part of me died when my mom’s heart stopped beating.

Then, there was Jenny, the girl Forrest loved. The girl who loved him even though Forrest wasn’t the smartest kid on the block. When Jenny refused to confirm her love for him, Forrest said “At least I know what love is.” Even though Forrest was different, Jenny came to love him. Suddenly, I was 23 again. I was next to my bride, Dorothy. Dorothy was my Jenny in 1972. Like Jenny for Forrest, despite my own disabilities and differences from other men, Dorothy loved me as I was. As I am. As I am not. As I will never be.

My mind then drifted to the future and to the New Year 2021. How many Americans might have given up hope? Would Forrest’s childlike wonder and innocence be near the brink of extinction in the hearts of most Americans?

What I like about Forrest Gump is that he believed all things are possible. Unlike Forrest Gump, our dreams don’t always come true. And many times we lose our hope. Despite all his challenges, Forrest Gump always had never-ending hope. Like death and birth, dreams and miracles were just part of life too

For me, at present no more is needed than that. Forrest had Jenny. I have my Dorothy. Maybe that feather of God’s hope for us, that feather floating in the wind, like Forrest’s, lands some place in your heart or mine, in the mystery of life itself and God’s love for you and me. With God’s help, we may each live the lives we dream and the hope to love with all the joy and innocence of Forrest.

God has assured us in Scripture that hope is part of the life we are gifted from Him.

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 12:12
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

God, many of us are going through a troubled time. Many of us struggle every day to see hope amidst Advent darkness. Amidst all the death. All the hunger. All the poverty. All the unemployment. All the doubt and despair.

God, in the mystery of Your Grace and love for us, please help us in prayer to see that miracles still happen for all of us.

God, with prayer, please help us see the hope and innocence which dwell in us and in Your Child born in Bethlehem. For at Christmas with Jesus’s birth, Your love, Your Holy hope and everlasting light was born. Amen

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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.