Bending Angel

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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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.

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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Prayer for Dr. Marcello Natali of Italy and All Other COVID 19 First Responders on Earth – March 29, 2020

March 30, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

This image shows health care workers in the coronavirus pandemic in Italy with cathedral in background. — Health care workers in Italy – Photo: Wall Street Journal

God – From 1942 until 1946 my Father was stationed in Italy. As an Army meteorologist, he cleared for flight the Air Force bombers and glider pilots to help the Free World defeat Germany and Hitler in WWII. Now, there is a much different world war going on in Italy and around the globe, a battle for survival lead by courageous doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, and leaders of all faiths.

Sadly, one such servant of Yours and of humanity, Dr. Marcello Natali, of Italy died of the Coronavirus in Milan. At the time of his death, he was quarantined and separated from his entire family, including his nurse-wife. He was just age 57. Dr. Natali will not receive a hero’s burial as funerals are prohibited by law because of Italy’s national lockdown.

As of March 19, 2020, Italy had over 2,629 health care workers who had contracted COVID-19. They and many others around the globe continued to help the sick despite non-existent or inadequate personal protective equipment and lack of testing. He might have survived if earlier he had not refused an intensive care bed needed by another patient.

God, please cover all first responders with Your armor of light to protect them from harm and to strengthen them spiritually and physically as they sacrifice their own safety in service to others.

In the darkness please help the Coronavirus victims and first responders to see and share Your love and light.

Please let them know that the Coronavirus is not an act of You, our God, but a force of nature, like the Spanish Flu Pandemic in 1918.

If a first responder or victim cries out to You and asks, “Lord, why did You do this to me?” please comfort them with the knowledge that it was not You who did harm. For You would never hurt a child You love. Rather, You were certainly their First Responder. You were there to witness their pain, to cry with them and dry their tears.

Please help everyone to see Your light and love which dwells in the darkness.

When this catastrophic war is won. When Your scientists develop a vaccine as with polio. When the last ventilator is silenced. When the last ICU bed is empty. When all fallen first responders and victims have received eternal rest. When all places of worship are open. When all student rolls are called daily by teachers in their classrooms. Our world, humanity and the lives we live will never be the same.

Thanks for being our never changing, ever-loving and ever-present Creator. Amen
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Prayer for the Beauty of Holy Hope – March 22, 2020

March 22, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – I am hunkered down in my home as are millions of Americans and people around Your beautiful world. So much beauty. So much darkness and fear invades our days. So much has changed. I am grateful that You have not. For we need You in our sleeping and our waking.

In prayer we ask that You help us do everything we can to protect those we love and who love us.

In prayer we ask that we do what is best for others and not be bound by inconvenience or by past routines and practices which do not work in this Pandemic.

Just as we connect with You remotely in prayer, help us make use of technology to stay connected with family, friends and the elderly.

Love is our Cross to bear. It is unimaginable that we must avoid contact with others to guard against bringing an invisible killer into our homes and places of work. Yet, that is what love does in this time of trial.

God, please help us to know that Good Friday in all its pain and horror did come to an end. That Easter Sunday surely followed. Death happened. The dark skies lifted. Eternal life emerged in the resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Let us take time in this passage of prayer and Pandemic to walk in our faith to see the beauty around us—the budding of the rose, the white flower of hope, the yellow jasmine and the green of Spring.

For there is beauty amidst this test of faith and perseverance.

So much beauty, Amen +

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Prayer for Good and Godly Things to Come from the Bad – The Polio Epidemic and the Coronavirus Pandemic – March 15, 2020

March 15, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God — I am much older now. But, within me is the six-year old boy, pictured here, who contracted polio, went to the hospital and was quarantined in a hospital instead of going to first grade.

Then, like now with the Coronavirus Pandemic, there was no vaccine. Hospitals were overloaded with patients and unable to meet the demands for respirators and iron lungs. Water was tested in many homes. There was uncertainty as to how polio was transmitted. Pools were closed. Children were required to take long naps each afternoon. Children were not allowed to play together. And, if a child or adult contracted polio, some cases were mild and others ranged from death, to being in an iron lung forever, to being crippled, or in braces or being wheelchair bound for the rest of their lives.

God, today I thank You for the lessons we learned from over 300,000 American men, women and children getting polio and millions more around the globe who fell victim to or died from polio.

God, You are all about hope and transforming bad things into good and Godly things.

God, with polio, You taught us lessons to deal with this pandemic. Please help us to:

Pray for the cure to come;

Pray for us to provide for our families while remembering to care for and share with others in need;

Pray not to hoard essential goods but to take only what we need so that others in need can have their pantry shelves full;

Pray that those who are prevented from wrongfully price gouging others turn their acts of greed into acts of charity; for example the men who are stuck with 14,000 bottles of hand sanitizer can gift them to a charity to distribute to those who need them;

Pray for us to provide meals to children who no longer are in schools, as the school meals are often the only daily nourishment received by many of them;

Pray for us to call, Skype, FaceTime, send a card or letter to those who are shut in or separated from their family and friends, especially the elderly and those who have underlying health conditions.

God, I thank You that because of Your love in their leaders, corporate America is doing its part by letting corporate profits take a back seat in order to be compassionate to others. Many companies are paying workers who are not working. Companies are enabling workers to work remotely. And Apple allowing those who use the Apple Card to skip their March 2020 payments without accruing interest and without any adverse reporting to credit agencies.

God, I pray that You will help all of us throughout the world to be our best selves at the worst time in decades.

God, although we do not have all the answers, we always have You.

Right now, adequate supplies, a cure, and an effective treatment may be lacking, but there is always an abundance of Your presence and love for us. Amen

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Prayer to Live in the Now – March 8, 2020

March 8, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Heavenly God, You, the Holy One, Who gifted life to me as Your blessing, I beseech Thee to help me fully and wholly live in the Now. Now is all I have today. Please help me not to live in the past. In prayer I have learned that carrying anger, resentment and lack of forgiveness of the past into the present only robs me of finding love, gratefulness, wonder and awe today. I know that my thinking that true happiness will be gained in the acquisition of future possessions, rewards and success prevents me from fully living and deeply loving others today. In prayer may I hear in Your gift to me of the Now, the heartbeat of Your love for me. May I feel the flutter of angels’ wings around me. May I take in with each and every breath the air filled with Your love for me. Amen

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This prayer was inspired by Brother Curtis Almquist, an Episcopal monk from Emery House, a retreat facility on 140 acres in West Newbury, Massachusetts. Brother Curtis helps others to find the sacred in the ordinary and experience the extraordinary gift of life in the present through prayer and silence. Thank you, Brother Curtis.

Prayer in Thanksgiving for Hope from God and in Nature – March 1, 2020

March 3, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – On the corner of my street for over fifty years there lived a man who spent his life repairing electric wheelchairs.

Now, this man, who kept wheelchair bound persons on the move to navigate in their homes, places of work and worship, no longer is in his home. The home has been vacant for more than a year.

But, in the man’s yard this week his white plum tree was in magnificent bloom.

I have enjoyed this blossoming tree for the last twelve years. In those twelve years people I loved have died. Our flood ridden home in Emmottville has been demolished. A few beloved pets have joined Your Kingdom of heavenly creatures great and small.

The plum tree and the blossoms of Spring echoed to me that life goes on, that You and the Nature You have given us hold a Holy promise. That with every ending there is a new beginning. There is promise and hope You have for each of us. That although the seasons of life change, Your love for us never does.

We often believe that life and the living of it starts at birth. But, as we move through Lent, and stand at the Cross on Good Friday, and witness the Crucifixion of Your Son, Jesus, we learn that eternal life for us was born out of Your sacrifice and a precious death.

God, we thank You for Your love, for the hope of Spring, for the new spiritual growth and transformation which come from endings in our lives. For Your love and plans for us are around us in Nature. In the white blossoming plum tree at the end of my street. In this tree the man planted for us to see and reflect on in our walks of faith. Amen

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Prayer to Live Fully Each Day – February 23, 2020

February 23, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Heavenly Father – When I awaken tomorrow, may my heart be ever grateful for Your gift to me of another day on Earth. Just as I, because of the death and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus, look forward to eternal life with You, every day please help me to look forward to seeing, hearing, feeling and touching the beauty around me. To hold a young child. To embrace one I love. To hear a bird’s song or the notes of a beautiful symphony. To listen in the silence of prayer for the beat of angel wings around me. To plan at least one simple, small thing to look forward to or accomplish this day. In doing so may I receive each and every day a glimpse of the joy, pleasure and peace which await me in heaven amidst the everlasting life, light and love of Christ, Your blessed Son. Amen

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Prayer for Purity of Heart – February 15, 2020

February 15, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Heavenly Father – Please help me be with You in prayer so that I and my heart can be and become one with You. My human emotions, self-centeredness, anger, lack of forgiveness and fear do not allow me to fully invite You and Your Son, Jesus Christ, into my heart. In faith I know that Your love, if seated in my heart, will transform and purify my heart. Then I can love others as I wish to be loved. I can be at peace with my self so that I can be at peace with my neighbor. I can be Your child and walk in the peace, love and light in the footsteps of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen

This prayer was inspired by the sermon given on February 12, 2017 by Stuart Bates, Rector, Saint Francis Episcopal Church-Houston.

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