Bending Angel

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

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 www.BendingAngel.com website.

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

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 Giving Bread on Days of Giving Thanks – November 29, 2020

November 27, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

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

When I was six, instead of going to first grade at Bane Elementary, I ended up in a hospital bed. With polio, I was quarantined and separated from my family. I did not know why I was paralyzed. I did not understand why people I loved did not come to see me.

I hungered for comfort. I yearned for family meals and family togetherness. Somehow, I had ended up in a hospital room with nurses, doctors, orderlies, and other polio victims instead of being with my family.

Thankfulness was not in my heart. Giving to others was beyond my comprehension.

Suddenly, my great aunt Mabel Sterling entered my hospital room. She wore a smile and her Blue Bird Circle volunteer dress. That dress gave her special winged-privileges to visit patients like me when others could not, even in times of quarantine.

Aunt Mabel, my Angel in an apron, sat down next to me. She said, “Bubba, would you like to see what I brought for you?” “Yes”, I replied. Carefully, Aunt Mabel peeled back the aluminum foil from the steamy, fragrant, yeasty homemade cinnamon raisin bread she had made for me. I could not butter the bread she brought me any more than I could lift my arms or my legs. She spread the warm butter to the edges of the slice of bread and placed it in my mouth. Eating it seemed like a taste of Heaven on Earth.

That day and all the days she came to see me that year, in eating each piece of bread, I received a miracle of sorts. The hospital smells of bedpans, urinals, and soiled sheets disappeared. I could not hear the children crying in the next room when the doctors administered spinal taps to confirm poliomyelitis.

Many decades have passed from my days of quarantine and rehabilitation at Hedgecroft Hospital. Yet, I have never forgotten the first time my aproned Angel came to my hospital room and fed me much more than bread. And other things. Promise. Hope. God’s love. That homemade cinnamon raisin bread warmed my soul that day and has kept on feeding me in thanksgiving ever since.

In the Pandemic, we now have millions of Americans including children who are hungry. Who are separated from those they love like I was at age six. Who do not know where the next meal will come from. Will the food they receive be enough for the nourishment of their bodies? And, if they are fed today, will food be placed on their table tomorrow?

So, today, and on every day of giving thanks to God for your blessings, I ask you to join me in giving bread to someone else in need. For the first time in posting these weekly prayers, I am asking you to make a donation. I am suggesting the Houston Food Bank to feed others who may not be in the hospital like I was as a young boy, but who still need to be fed and to receive nourishment, hope, and the love of God.

The Houston Food Bank’s website says that for every $10 you donate a meal is provided for 30 people. On this particular day of giving thanks to God, Dorothy and I gave $300 which will provide meals to 900 hungry people.

When you donate to the Houston Food Bank, each man, woman, and child will never know you personally like I knew Aunt Mabel. But, God will. Maybe, just maybe, by doing so you will one day get to meet my aproned Angel Aunt when you are both seated at God’s Table eating the everlasting bread of eternal life and love.

Dear God, on all our days of giving thanks to You for the blessings You have bestowed upon us as Your children, may we give bread to those in need to feed their bodies and to warm their hearts with Your comfort and love. Amen

Please make a tax-deductible donation by clicking here.

If you are not in Houston, please consider donating to the Food Bank in your area.

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Prayer in Thanksgiving for Parents – November 22, 2020

November 21, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To watch a video of Jack reading this prayer, please click here.

Like many of you, I owe my first and deepest gratitude and giving of thanks to God because of Mom and Dad. When I was thirty-something, young and married with kids, I penned, A Child’s Thanksgiving, a poem to God in awe of them.

Because of the Pandemic, many of you cannot be with your parents on Thanksgiving. Even if the Pandemic did not exist, many of you, like me, have parents who have died and are unable to be with you and your family on this special day of giving thanks.

For another year, Mom and Dad will not be with me in the physical at the Emmott Family Thanksgiving Table. Instead, they will be seated at the Lord’s Table feasting on the Light and Love of God.

Happy Thanksgiving, Mom and Dad. Enjoy the Love, Peace, and Joy you gave me.

A Child’s Thanksgiving
Lord,
Today is Thanksgiving Day,
At least for another forty-five minutes,
As it is now eleven fifteen at night.
Even though thanks giving is the theme of this day
I have yet to say enough thanks
For the life you have given me.

Thanks for life,
Life so precious, so rare,
Life of mine which might have ended
So long ago in my childhood years,
Years filled with respirators, syringes,
Bedpans, creamagal, prayers, oxygen
Tents, braces, casts, and hospital
Rooms.

Thanks for Mom and Dad.
For all their love, patience, and care,
For just being there
When I so much needed them.
For the untold sacrifices they made,
Which I could never hope to repay.
For devoting their younger years
So that I might live more of my own.
For instilling in me
A happy outlook on life,
Despite physical limitations,
Which chained me down,
Which prevented me
From doing what others did.
For giving me the courage
To endure the painful years
And those unhappy tears.
But most of all,
Thanks for their love,
Love which gave me comfort.
Knowing that whatever I was or was not,
I was always accepted
And had the potential to become a bigger “me”,
Because of what we had been through.

For giving me gifts,
Gifts which have kept on giving
Year after year.
The gift of warmth,
Of being held in their arms as a child,
Totally dependent on their nurture for survival.
The gift of being held in my mother’s arms,
Clutched near her breasts.
Of being lulled to sleep in the music
Of her heartbeats,
Of her song
And of the rocker squeaking on the oak wood floor.
For giving me a greater vision
Of this world and other worlds.
For allowing me to believe in
Fairytales,
Santa Claus,
Rudolf,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
Jack and the Beanstalk,
The Sand Man,
The Tooth Fairy,
Superman and
The Savior.
For the gifts
Of toys
Of cowboy boots,
Of water pistols,
Of cowboy outfits
Of my first Roy Rogers lunch kit,
Of toys brought back from Mexico,
Of hidden treasures,
Of Playland Park,
Of malted milks,
Of donuts,
Of not making me quit taking
Those shiny half dollars,
From Mr. Logan at Ed Snapp’s therapy clinic.
Of fishing trips,
Of bedtime outings,
Of the best medical care,
And of too many gifts
To write down all of them.

Thanks for keeping them here
For as long as you have
So that I could come to know them better
And love them better also.
The same is just as true for Grandmother and PawPaw.

Thanks for Dorothy, John, and Catherine.

Thanks for giving me
The happiest and most joyous moments
I am now experiencing.
Thanks for the community
We have shared.
And for my partaking of a communion
With each breath of air,
And with each drop of rain.

Lord,
Thanks most of all
For answering my prayers.

Love, Bubba

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.

Post-Election Prayer – November 15, 2020

November 14, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

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

The last two weeks have been historic indeed. Much has changed. Yet, much remains the same. A Presidential election has taken place. Euphoria and hope for some. Disappointment and frustration for others. Unity is needed. Separation and divisiveness remain.

How can we steer, support, and direct our elected leaders to better serve all Americans? You. The different. The disabled like me. Those who have much. Those who have little. Those who deserve to be treated with dignity, compassion, and respect. Those whose pantries are full. Those who are uncertain where their next meal will come from. Those who need the kind of love, care, protection, and opportunity our Founders who signed the Declaration of Independence envisioned.

As I considered writing a 2020 post-election prayer, I read my post-election prayer I wrote and posted on November 11, 2016. After reading it, I decided to repost it. I could not add anything new to make such a prayer more relevant today than it was then in 2016.

After every presidential election, each of us knows that the task to achieve our Founders’ vision of the United States seems impossible. But, please remember and trust, all things are possible when love is present. We are One Nation under God. God watches over us even in times like this. No matter who resides at the White House, God dwells there too.

Post-Election Prayer – November 11, 2016

God, I am deeply blessed to be living in the United States of America, the greatest democracy on Earth. I thank you for an election process in which changes in governmental leadership are based on all my fellow citizens exercising the Constitutional right to vote.

God, in the wake of the election of our new President, millions of Americans are excited and hopeful as to new National leadership. In contrast, there are millions of voters who are upset, afraid, and feel hopeless and disconnected from the American dream.

God, for me and everyone, I pray that You guide our President and all our elected leaders in the House of Representatives and the Senate to take actions now which unify us, which embrace the diversity which makes America great, which heal wounds of anger, distrust, and division and which afford all of us and the generations to follow the best chance to flourish in our country and in Your kingdom.

God, I know elections come and go, but Your love is forever. 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 of Thankfulness for a Kingfisher’s Cure for the Soul – October 25, 2020

October 25, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To enjoy the video of Jack and this prayer, please click here.

A couple of weeks ago I read an article about sleep deprivation, losing hair, and cracked teeth being caused by the stress of the Pandemic. Certainly, the stress has caused physical injuries to millions worldwide. Yet, beneath those physical injuries are deeper damages within us and within the soul of America. We struggle to find hope and peace within ourselves as our Nation moves nearer to finding a cure for the coronavirus. Being thankful has curative properties too.

Today, my prayer is not about asking God to do something for you and me. It is a prayer of thanksgiving. Being thankful and grateful is a difficult place to be at this time. Things are unbelievably and unexpectedly hard. But thankfulness enables each one of us to see through the darkness and find that hope and healing still exist. Each morning I find it eating my breakfast as I sit on the patio overlooking Tres Palacios Bay. I look up from the steamy bowl of oatmeal, blueberries, and walnuts Dorothy has prepared for me. And there he sits… A magnificent Kingfisher.

The Kingfisher is perched on the birdhouse the Purple Martens have migrated away from. Their departure is the Kingfisher’s gain. He sits on his perch. He sees and surveys his feathered friends. Great Blue Herons. Brown Pelicans flying over the bay, casting their presence like a squadron of B-52 bombers in World War II. A tall slender white Egret carefully navigates the wetlands looking for another taste of nature. A fast-moving mullet jumps repeatedly down the center of the canal below as if the mullet has someplace to go to in a hurry. Two Roseate Spoonbills flying gracefully to their next destination. A large flock of seagulls awkwardly swarming over a school of baitfish just beyond the rock groin. They catch their feast just as the Kingfisher and I catch a glimpse of all of the Saltgrass illumined by the rising Sun. A pastel of perfection of nature created by God. A Fisher of Men – God’s children, you and me. A glorious King who bids that we step out of this dark mess we are in and into a place of thankfulness for the light and love we find all around us if we open our eyes and hearts.

The Kingfisher surveys the bay with his sharp eyes. It is as if he is the King of the Sea. He watches over the diverse and beautiful feathered wildlife God has provided him to appreciate, love, and be within his own way. He is the living feathered messenger to me from God. The one who sets the table of my heart in my daily ritual of sharing breakfast and hope with Dorothy, the woman I love.

Likewise, God, our King, watches over us from afar. He calls us to notice Him too and to be thankful in a much different landscape during the pandemic. We find Him in us. He is the light that illumines our days just as the sunrise lights up the Bay and all its creatures for the Kingfisher and me to see.

We are made God’s own forever with Holy water in Baptism. So, as we pray for a cure, I am thankful for the healing each morning my bowl of oatmeal provides. I remember that “Emmott” in old English means “mouth of the water”. From my mouth come words of thanks to God for the Kingfisher and the King of us all. I open a sweet card from my dear friend, Laura, who lives on an island with a place on the water like me. She quotes author Isak Dinesen, “The cure for anything is saltwater: sweat, tears or the sea”.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about thankfulness and being thankful for the gifts of nature.

Revelation 5:13
And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!

Psalm 30:12
that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

God, in prayer, let us be thankful for those living creatures in Your Kingdom who open our hearts to see the beauty You have given us as well as the innumerable and exquisite gifts You have bestowed on each of us.

God in prayer, as we find a cure for the coronavirus, may we be healed by our thankfulness and gratitude to You.

God, in prayer, may we see glimpses of Your heavenly Kingdom in all Your living messengers…. the Kingfisher, Your creatures great and small, our pets as well as the beauty that resides in our brothers and sisters. 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. http://www.bendingangel.com

Photo credit: peruaves.org

Prayer for Everyone to Vote – October 11, 2020

October 11, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here for the video of Jack and his prayer.

Like me, each of you is struggling to master life and the living of it in the Pandemic. The Pandemic has caused us to suffer in ways we could never have imagined even as recently as February this year. We have lost many things. Sleep. Financial security. Jobs. Loved ones. Peace. Comfort. Going to church. Gathering to observe and celebrate births, baptisms, weddings, funeral services, and reunions to name a few. But, none of us have lost the right to vote. We still have the right millions of others in the world long for, still fight for, and yet may never have. In November we can each cast our vote for the candidates who will best lead us out of the Pandemic and protect and preserve the rights guaranteed to us under the American Constitution.

America has a lot of problems. Voting enables us to be part of the solutions to make America an even better reflection of democracy. A democracy which allows each of us to be safe, to be free, to nurture and grow our God-given talents, and to equally participate in its private and public institutions, no matter what our differences are in race, color, creed, condition, sexual identity or whether one is a man or woman or whether one is in a wheelchair, like me, blind or disabled.

Perhaps one of the overarching strengths of our Nation is measured in its diversity and inclusiveness among all its people. In our hearts, what if the place to vote was located on Ellis Island, at the Statue of Liberty, or at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial? Would we be called to vote with the enlightenment of the Founders of our Nation? The co-signers of the Declaration of Independence?

Although there is the separation of church and state, God has spoken in Scripture about the importance of who our elected officials are if we are to be a nation that acts and leads as one under God.

1 Timothy 2:1-2
Exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

If we are to pray for our leaders to ensure we have such a life in all goodness, we all must go a step further to do our part in electing them. Like the muscles I had to exercise after polio, the right to vote, if not exercised, is lost and wasted. Democracy will atrophy and die.

Heavenly Father – As Citizens of the greatest country on Earth, we thank You for all the blessings of living in America, one Nation under You, our God.

God, as we exercise our Constitutional right to vote, please guide us in prayer to select the best candidates.

God, we pray to You that those we elect across our Nation will be ones who afford America the greatest opportunity to heal and unify its people, to restore civility and peace, to respect and embrace the diversity among its people, to exercise fiscal responsibility, and to give this and future generations the greatest opportunity to live, love, worship and flower in Your Kingdom.

God, may the exercise of our precious right to vote find pleasure in Your sight. 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 to Find Labor’s Rest in God Alone – September 6, 2020

September 5, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To enjoy the video of Jack and this prayer, please click here.

For you and for me this Labor Day weekend is like no other in our lives. When we are not working virtually at home, our minds are working overtime with worry. With caring for others in unexpected ways. With sleeping disturbed by our anxieties and fears about our safety and the welfare of others. With being deprived of a sense of community and companionship with others because of physical separation. In seeing conflict in our towns, cities, states and nation which present unprecedented challenges in our One Nation under God. In grieving for those who have died during the Pandemic. In adapting to address the Coronavirus which changes and challenges us every day. The list goes on and on doesn’t it?

Personally, this Labor Day weekend 2020 is a big change for me and my family. Dorothy and I live in a three-generational home with our beloved daughter and three grandchildren. Because we have maintained very strict protocols, worn masks, safely-distanced and washed hands, we’ve had the blessing of being under one roof during the Pandemic. But, because our grandchildren are going to return to school and attend classes next Tuesday, it is no longer safe to live together. So, not because we want to but because we have to, Dorothy and I are moving to our bay home. We are trading our treasured family time of togetherness for a beautiful view of Tres Palacios Bay. The beauty of the bay cannot compare with being with those we love each day. We pray that we can return to our home in Spring Valley soon. For now, only God knows when that will be.

None of us like the changes forced upon us, do we? Yet, it is a relief to know that God’s love never changes and that God goes wherever we go to help us find peace. To restore ourselves. To accept things which we cannot change. To make the best of things at the worst of times.

For you and for me on this Labor Day weekend in 2020, just how much do we all need to find ways to rest our minds, our bodies, and our souls? Where do we turn for that?

Scripture in Psalm 62:1 says,
My soul finds rest in God alone…..

So, this Labor Day weekend and every day which follows in this troubled time of Pandemic, and to quiet the conflict within us, please let us remember to pray. In prayer we can surely find all the rest we need. From our labors. To replenish ourselves and one another. To find the strength to carry on. To renew our gratitude to God for the fruits of our labors given to us in God’s Love and Grace.

God, we praise You for giving us minds, hands, and hearts to earn a living and support those who depend on us.

God, please help us to be mindful that You are not just with us on Sundays but all the days of the week.

God, at our work places, at home and the office, please help us to be patient with our fellow workers and the family members who live with us.
God, in thanksgiving to You, may we use the fruits of our labors to make a difference for those who are out of work, without food or shelter, or are less fortunate.

Please help us to remember to give more to those who have less.

May we strive to labor in ways that always please You.
When we find our labor’s rest, may we take the time to be with You in prayer.

Last, we pray that, when our work in service to You is done, we will find eternal and everlasting rest from our labors with You in Heaven. 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 for the Unconditional Love and Loyalty of Dogs – August 30, 2020

August 30, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Please click here for Jack’s video version of this prayer.

My grandfather, PawPaw, was far from a perfect man. Basically, he was good, like you and me. Yet he said things and held beliefs that were hard to accept.

He drove the most ugly and colorful mustard yellow automobile that was the cheapest one on Kitzman’s Chevrolet car lot. PawPaw had holes in the cuffs of his khaki pants, holes because he used his pants cuffs as ashtrays for his Camel cigarettes. In winter he used opened pages of the Houston Post to warm his legs in his recliner when he could’ve used a nice woolen blanket. Playing cards in the den and inconsiderately leaving cigarette butts burning in the ashtray to choke his fellow card players. After playing a game of cards, he would stand up from the table. Turn off the lights and the ceiling fan. Then, close the door and leave his guests behind him in the darkness and not say a word. That was his nice way of saying, “It is time to leave my house. The party is over. Don’t overstay your welcome.”

Although PawPaw’s family and friends had trouble accepting such behavior and imperfections, his dogs, Popeye, Smokey, and O.D. did not. None of that mattered to them. They unconditionally accepted PawPaw the way he was. They did not want or expect him to change. They fully loved him as their perfectly imperfect Master and Creature of God.

In return PawPaw loved and cared for his dogs in ways he was not able to do for his own family. PawPaw refused to give $20 to his wife, Jennie, to buy a dress at Sears. Yet, he would willingly spend $100 on a veterinarian to repair a dog’s broken leg or treat a dog’s illness. Popeye, Smokey, and O.D were family above all of PawPaw’s human family.

Every day after eating his breakfast, PawPaw would step out the back-screen door. The three dogs were waiting for him. They knew PawPaw had saved for each of them a little piece of toast. A little piece of daily bread to taste and to savor. All the dogs showed their appreciation in the wagging of tails. Popeye always went one step further.

To show his appreciation Popeye did much more every day than just vigorously wagging his tail when greeting his PawPaw. With his tail wagging behind him Popeye sauntered up to his PawPaw. Popeye always gently held a freshly fallen Live Oak Tree leaf in his mouth to present to PawPaw as if saying, “I have something to show you, PawPaw. In this simple gesture of giving you this leaf, I show you that you are highly valued and respected by me no matter what. You are mine and I am forever yours.”

In the doggie version of Driving Miss Daisy, PawPaw served as Popeye’s, Smokey’s, and O.D’s chauffeur. PawPaw always held open the car door for them to crawl into the back seat before he sat down in front behind the steering wheel. He made sure a soft wool blanket was placed on the back seat for their comfort. PawPaw treated them like royalty as he drove them everywhere in the car. That was because he knew his dogs saw him, their PawPaw, as their King, their Lord of the Manor. And because the dogs were so loyal and so in awe of him, the dogs never made a sound or complaint as to words they heard PawPaw scream in the car about those reckless and discourteous drivers on the road.

Like Sarah in the Bible, Popeye, Smokey, and O.D. went wherever PawPaw went. In the garden. In the car. Walking around the neighborhood to visit his children and grandchildren like me. They could not have loved a two-footed human being more as their owner, Master, King, or companion than any four-footed canine on Earth. Sitting in silence at PawPaw’s feet was to them the happiest place, the most sacred ground in Emmottville.

Suddenly, one morning in December 1978 I woke up. My son John, two months old, was crying uncontrollably. Something he had never done before. I looked out the window and saw my brother Gary sprinting across our front lawn running toward PawPaw’s house. I knew that something was terribly wrong. Dorothy and I immediately went over to PawPaw’s house. Popeye, Smokey, and O.D. were sitting on the back door steps of the house as if they were waiting for their usual pieces of PawPaw’s toast. The toast was not coming. I walked down the hall and looked into PawPaw’s bedroom. I saw PawPaw was laying on his right side clothed in his khaki pants and soft blue flannel shirt. A dog owner’s lifeless pose of a very old soul who had taken his last breath.

Soon the hearse from Waltrip Funeral Home pulled in the driveway. It parked by the three seated dogs and by the steps leading to the hall and to PawPaw’s bedroom. PawPaw’s body was placed on a gurney. After the gurney carefully navigated its way down the hall, out the door and down the steps, Popeye, Smokey, and O.D. witnessed PawPaw’s body being placed in it. The hearse’s rear door slammed shut. Yet, PawPaw’s loyal dogs did not flinch or move. They stood their ground in reverence for him.

As if Popeye, Smokey, and O.D. knew that this was their last time to spend with their Master and King, they needed to show their love, respect, and loyalty one last time. As the black hearse began to roll forward to leave the home, Popeye, Smokey, and O.D. stood up. Emulating what I saw when President Kennedy’s caisson carried his body to its final resting place in 1963, these three devoted dogs walked in silence and in unison with the hearse as it made its way down the driveway under the canopy of the Live Oak Trees PawPaw planted 50 years before.

As the hearse stopped before turning left on Emmott Road, the dogs stopped too and sat down. Popeye, Smokey, and O.D. knew that this was the end of following PawPaw, the one they unconditionally loved in all their dog years on Earth. The dogs watched the hearse turn left on Emmott Road. That marked the moment of final farewell, the final goodbye had truly come to them.

An hour or so later, the dogs were convinced that the hearse was gone and that their PawPaw was not going to return. Popeye, Smokey, and O.D. got up on their four paws and carried their collective grief and memories of their Master back home. Their unconditional love and loyalty for PawPaw was for them an Eternal Flame lit with grace and gratitude for him.

Many of you have dogs and know what I mean in sharing my story about Popeye, Smokey, and O.D with you. Haven’t you looked in your dog’s eyes and seen the unconditional love of God? Haven’t you seen in their wagging tails the joyous gift you are to them from God? Isn’t that what God wants us to see in our fellow men and women? In the kindness of others on Earth? In others’ acceptance of our faults, differences, and imperfections amidst the perfect spirit God has given you? How much do we need that today? In our families? At our workplaces? In our Nation? In our world?

In the Bible, God may not have directly spoken about our pet dogs. But, in Scripture God has abundantly spoken to us about unconditional love and loyalty. My favorite quote is:

1 Corinthians 13:4-5, 7
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

God, in prayer we thank You for our dogs, Your four-footed angels that bring to us Your unconditional love despite all our human faults and imperfections.

God, please help us to extend to others those qualities within our dogs- qualities of love, acceptance, and tolerance of our fellow men and women in America and around the world.

God, please help us treat others the way our beloved dogs have treated us, for in doing so we honor You and show our loyalty to You and to all Your creatures, great and small.

God, may we bring offerings of love and acceptance to all our brothers and sisters, exquisite and sweet gifts, such as the Live Oak Tree leaves held tenderly in Popeye’s mouth to present to PawPaw and all his guests in the comings and goings of daily life and even in death. 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 to Leave Behind a Good Legacy – August 23, 2020

August 23, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

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

Last week’s prayer was a Prayer for More Tee Pee Motel Memories.

I hope that last week’s prayer helped you find joy today in reliving your cherished beautiful memories in the past.

Yesterday, I learned that my friend, Craig Plumhoff, of Houston, died from the Coronavirus. The stark reality of the loss of Craig to his bride, Mary Leslie, their children, son, Jonathan and daughter, Mary Kristen, other family members, and friends reminds me that, you and I will one day be just a memory too for those we leave behind.

Don’t we all desire to leave a good memory of ourselves after we die. For if we live Holy lives, the memory of us to others should be a blessing. That is because we have left a good legacy of Godly love.

Craig’s beautiful obituary in the Houston Chronicle today contained the words we all wish to be said about us when we die. “… Craig fully embraced his 71 years on earth and leaves behind a legacy of loving his neighbor as himself and loving his God with all his heart, mind, soul and strength. Those words truly reflected the child of God Craig was and not just candy-coated text to mask a life lesser lived and less loving to others.

We know that the gift of life from God includes the certainty of our death. Yet, the good news is that God promises that death gives way to the certainty of our eternal life.

What is the good legacy to be left behind? Maya Angelou said it this way, At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did. They will remember how you made them feel. All who knew Craig remember how he made them feel by his smile, laughter, encouragement and love from home, the office, at church, in his weekly Bible study group and to cheering on his kids when they played sports at St. Francis Episcopal Day School and beyond.

One day I saw Craig at lunch at Escalante’s before the Pandemic. He said he had gathered up all of his kids’ VHS home movies and taken them to a company to transfer the images to DVD’s. Those DVD’s were given to his children. But, his kids will never have to replay those images to see the good legacy he left behind for them.

I was unable to find the word, “legacy,” in the Bible. But, Scripture does help us understand what is important to be left behind for others to inherit when we become just a memory to them.

Psalm 145.4
One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.

Philippians 4.9:
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

2 Timothy 2.2:
And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

God, in prayer let us recognize that one day we each will be just a memory to others.

God, in the life you have given us, please help us to focus on acts, words, and deeds which will endure and which will have lasting value for those we leave behind.

God, thank you for Craig Plumhoff and all your children in the world who have lived their lives in Your Name and left us with the everlasting legacy of love. 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.