Prayer in Thanks for Beauty in the Broken and Life in the Cracks – July 21, 2019

God – As I listened to a television commentator describe the history of Dunluce Castle in Portrush, Ireland, site of the filming of Game of Thrones and The 2019 Open Championship, You invited me to write this prayer.

The commentator spoke of the history of Dunluce Castle from its beginning in the 1300s, to its burning in the 1600s and to its becoming much more than mere medieval ruins. Amidst its fallen walls, the narrator described the beauty in the broken and the life which flowered in the cracks.

I reflected on the fractured history of Northern Ireland. The clashes between Catholics and Protestants, all of whom are Your children. From that dark human history of brokenness, we now have The Open and its unparalleled beauty for all of us to see. We see new life and hope for peace and equality emerging from past divides, losses, and deaths.

Like these castle ruins, we are all broken. We are all saved by You.

Within the brokenness of each of us, there is still beauty and worth to be found. There is something to be thankful for. Something not only to be appreciated by You, our Creator, but by all men and women, by all humankind.

With polio I thought beauty could never be found and that life ended in my own brokenness. But, God, with prayer, I learned that beauty still dwelled within me. That polio was not to be the end of my life. It was only the beginning.

God, please help us see the beauty in the broken and life in the cracks. Please help us to know that we need not be in Ireland overlooking Dunluce Castle to experience Your presence in all we are, in what we are not and in all we do. We need only pray.

Please give us the faith that You will take our broken pieces and put them back together in a beautiful way to display Your Glory.

Please enable us to see, in the cracks of our lives and broken bodies, the flowering of Your Kingdom and Your love for us.

Lord, what can be more beautiful and full of life that that? Amen

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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.