Bending Angel

Prayer for Prairie Fires of the Holy Spirit – December 15, 2019

December 15, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – During Advent Darkness while I wait for Your light and love to be born in Bethlehem, I reflect upon my ashes, the embers of the things within me which are not worthy of Your Kingdom. Some of those things have been torched to some extent in prayer by Your Holy Spirit. Like, my pride. My vanity. My self-importance. Not being accepting of others who are different than me or not treating my neighbors in the way I want to be treated by them. Much more work by me needs to be done.

However, the fire of the Your Holy Spirit has caused the better parts of me to shine, to reflect more of You and Your love on others. Like compassion. Forgiveness. Trust and faith in You. Valuing others more than my possessions. Thankfulness for Your blessings.

In an inspirational sermon delivered by Stuart Bates, Rector of St. Francis Episcopal Church Houston, on the second week of Advent, Stuart said that God wants all His children to be worthy of His Kingdom. That each of us needs to be mindful of the qualities which make us worthy to be admitted to Heaven and those qualities that have no place in Heaven like greed, hate, pride and lust.

God, I pray that each of us consider the metaphor told by Stuart of the prairie fire which consumes that which is no longer useful to the Earth. But, afterword, the ground is purified. It has received food for new life. Then comes the green from the Earth. The shiny and shimmering leaves. The newness like that of an innocent child You bring to our world.

God, in prayer please light within us prairie fires of the Holy Spirit, to purify ourselves, to make us more worthy to enter the Gates of Heaven and to remove from each of us the chafe of our human imperfections so that we can see, know and reflect You and Your perfect Spirit on Earth. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

If you want to purchase for yourself or a friend a copy of Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love or Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation or Divorce, please click on here to go to Amazon.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Prayer to Bear the Price of Love….Grief–November 3, 2019

November 3, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – Recently, three exceptional humans in Houston, Rusty Howard, Will Cannon, and John Fedorko, died. Rusty’s Barbara, Will’s Jane and John’s Jana and their family and friends are grieving. They have hearts in need of our prayers and Your healing.

Just yesterday, I learned that a longtime friend and unnamed World War II hero and one of America’s last living Ace’s is in hospice care. Preparing to make his final flight on the wings of angels to Heaven. To salute You, the God he served. The God who gave him the Land and Country he dearly loved.

The inspirational quote posted here has an unknown author. But, the children You have gifted with loving hearts know what it means to grieve.

Grieving is not confined to the death of those we have loved or who loved us. Grief is born in the separation from a close friend. Divorce. The loss of a job. The death of a dream. Bankruptcy. The onset of cancer or other illness. Although the sources of grief are many, You are the One True God. The source of life over death. Holy light over the darkness of grief. The beacon of hope to those who struggle in the dark to navigate the process of grief.

God, in prayer, please assure all who grieve that grieving does change; but that Your love for them never does.

God, in prayer, please give peace to those who grieve. That their loved ones dwell with You. That life and the living of it do not end with death. Yet, in You, the ending is a new beginning for their departed in Heaven. A blessed opportunity to grow in their faith in You and Your plans for them on Earth.

Jesus died.

Yet He lives.

We live and love.

So we can die in You.

In dying we live eternal life.

Amen.

If you like this prayer, please share.

Prayer to Separate Us from Our Stuff – October 6, 2019

October 5, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – This week Dorothy and I are making room in our home for a dear family member who needs to live with us for a while. We have had to focus on decluttering, giving away, and pitching items we have acquired and which take up space in our rooms, closets and drawers.

The sheer magnitude of this task and the size of the piles of stuff we have to deal with is overwhelming. Thankfully, it is at the time in our lives when we truly want simplicity. To find joy and the sacred in the simple and in the ordinary. Not yielding to the belief in advertising that long-lasting happiness is found in getting the latest gadget, the newest iPhone, the newest car, an expensive piece of furniture or high priced fashion.

We discover items we bought years ago, but never used. Items saved for later use, but never needed. Moneys spent on possessions which could’ve been better spent on others in need. Hours spent at the office to pay for possessions, time we could have used looking at more sunsets and rising moons, walking through the Houston Arboretum and Emmott Circle, or taking family trips, going to concerts, and being with others we love, just to name a few.

Lord, like millions of others, we love our stuff. But, except for the joy at time of purchase, things are not what make us happy. We find happiness in our experiences. We find value not in what we own but in who we share our lives with – our families and friends.

God, please help separate us from our stuff so we can be closer to others and nearer to You.

For those of us with too much stuff, please help us give it to others who have so much less.

With serving and working for our stuff less, we can spend more time in our service to You.

God, please help us refrain from buying things we do not really need. To clear the clutter from our lives and in our homes.

In doing so we make room for others in our hearts, for You and for Your love and light which bring us everlasting joy. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

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 Stewardship and Tithing – September 8, 2019

September 8, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

All across America churches are asking their members to tithe, pledge and to give back to God the gifts we have received from Him. This Prayer for Stewardship and Tithing is inspired by a sermon given by Rector Stuart Bates in 2016 at St. Francis Houston. In saying this prayer may you called to place the fruits of your labor into the hands of your church ministries. It is in giving to others that we shall receive the gifts of love, humility and thankfulness.

Giotto – St. Francis Giving His Mantle to a Poor Man

Heavenly Father, please open our hearts in thanksgiving for all that we have received from You. All we are and all we have are solely due to the life You unconditionally gifted to us. Some of us have little. Some of us have plenty. But just as You sacrificed Your only Son Jesus so that we may have everlasting life beyond our deaths, may each of us prayerfully and sacrificially pledge, tithe or gift to our churches a worthy sum. Because of such stewardship, may our churches better serve You and lovingly minister to the needs of all Your children. 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.

About This Week’s Prayer – Jack’s Thoughts – August 11, 2019

August 12, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Dorothy and I are off to San Antonio to attend the 45th Annual Advanced Family Law Course put on by the State Bar of Texas. We will be with judges, trial lawyers, collaborative divorce attorneys and mediators who are all dedicated to being the best for others who are caught in the emotional and financial underbrush of divorce and child custody disputes.

Besides traveling to San Antonio, we are all on a deeper, life-long journey to make a difference for others in what we do and who we are.

This week’s prayer on Spiritual Watchfulness was written for those who can benefit from spiritual direction in reconciliation, separation or divorce to use prayer to find discernment, forgiveness, hope, and calm wisdom.

To my fellow members of the Bar and my prayer community, please share this week’s prayer with anyone who is struggling with the challenges of reconciliation, separation or divorce.

In prayer we share a curriculum not normally learned at any Course–prayer as the way to find purpose and love at present in our service to others.

Prayer for Spiritual Watchfulness

Almighty God, Your Kingdom has no boundaries. Through Your Son Jesus Christ, and the intercession of Your saints, angels, and archangels, we have been shown the way to Heaven.

As I move through each day during a time of reconciliation, separation or divorce, may I be ever watchful for the signs that You are near me.

May I see Your angels, who are Your messengers in my midst, bending over me. May I hear in my heart the messages You send me.

Heavenly Father help me to discern the way to live more richly, to love more deeply, to live and die more devoted to You, and to be more deserving of admittance into Your Heavenly Kingdom. 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 to Be God’s Instrument – July 28, 2019

July 27, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Lord, I have been so blessed by others who served as instruments of Your love, light and grace. In fact, I have only been able to live the life You gave me and overcome polio’s disabilities because of them.

I met one such instrument at age 13. When curvature of my spine threatened to end my life, my mother took me to see Dr. Paul Harrington.
Dr. Harrington was a visionary orthopedic surgeon. He had developed the revolutionary “Harrington Rod”, a steel instrument, placed in the bow of the spine to keep it from bending further. To allow growth in height, the Rod could be extended in future years for a young growing patient like me.

When he saw me, Dr. Harrington said, “How are you, Muscles?” Even though he probably called every boy “Muscles” it made me feel stronger inside my weak body.

The following week a five-hour surgery took place. Dr. Harrington cut my back open from midline at the base of my neck to just above my tail bone. Three steel rods were placed along my spine, instruments put in place by a doctor who was Your instrument in giving me and thousands of others the opportunity to live, love and grow in service to You. That morning, after surgery, I was three inches taller.

Your living instrument, Dr. Harrington, enabled me to grow and to know You far more than the three inches I gained. God, every day I pray words of thanks for him and to You for that.

God, please help all of us to find the instruments in each of us. For in the use of them, like my Harrington Rods, we not only find what is possible in us but what is made possible in the lives of others because of Your Holy Spirit acting in us and through 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.

Prayer for the Dollhouse You Sent Me – February 17, 2019

February 17, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Lord, instead of attending First Grade at Bane Elementary, for a year I sat in my wheelchair in class with 15 other polio victims at Hedgecroft Hospital. Across from me sat an expressionless high school girl with hair cut short like her dreams of going to her Senior Prom and dancing to the music of her dreams stilled by paralysis.

As I sat near the teacher loaned to us from Spring Branch ISD, as each day passed I found my eyes drawn to a dollhouse in the back of the classroom. That dollhouse strangely attracted me to it as iron shavings to a magnet.

As the class emptied one day, I worked up the courage to ask the orderly to push my wheelchair up next to the dollhouse and to leave me there alone to study it and to understand the attraction it held for me, a boy, not a girl.

Suddenly, I was overcome with tears. I realized this dollhouse was not just any house. As I peered into its rooms I could smell my mother’s cooking from her kitchen. In the dining room I could see my family seated around the table and holding hands and saying grace. In the bedroom I could hear the voice of my mom saying the Lord’s Prayer as she knelt by my bed. I wondered whether my parents, brother, and sister missed me as much as I ached for them.

As I sat daily next to the dollhouse in quietude and prayer for the rest of that year, I learned a far greater lesson than the teacher could ever teach. That the dollhouse was not only a dollhouse. God, it was Your house with a room for me, before, during and after polio.

Lord, thanks for the dollhouse You sent me when I was separated from my loved ones at age six with polio. Thanks for making room for me and all Your children on Earth and in Heaven in the comfort and warmth of Your care and everlasting love. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

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.