Bending Angel

Prayer for Teaching and Learning to Love at Home – April 19, 2020

April 18, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

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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.

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 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 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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Prayer to Do Your Will not Ours – February 9, 2020

February 8, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – In our lives and in mine every day we are each faced with choices to do Your will when we would rather overlay our will on others.

In my collaborative and litigated divorce practice I witness spouses who would rather be right or control outcomes than to do the loving thing You would have them do. Spouses who are unable to trust in You to handle the consequences of letting go of control in doing what You have commanded. Being rigid and unforgiving instead of flexible and forgiving as You have treated mankind.

Sadly, I am aware of one husband who married a woman who had children by a prior marriage. So did he. Rather than treating his wife’s children like You do Yours, his love was divided. That was exemplified by him putting a partition in the shelves of the refrigerator which designated food, juices, and milk on one side for his kids and the other side for her kids. If her kids got milk from his kids’ side, there was harsh punishment always to be meted out to her kids.

When we impose rigidity and judgment on others, we imprison ourselves and others from living and loving within the rich Kingdom of Your grace.

We all have let You down and have sinned. Yet, You continue to forgive us, to be flexible and provide everyone in prayer to know and apply Your love and mercy to all people and in all things.

God, in prayer, before we act as we want in our relationships with our brothers and sisters, please help each of us to know, do and apply Your will, not ours.

Lord, let us pray to act as You in all we are and all we do, now and forever. For when we do that, Heaven descends to the Earth. We become Your love and living angels for others. Amen

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Prayer to Watch the Cork Bob – January 18, 2020

January 19, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God, one of the greatest blessings in my life was my Great Uncle Army Emmott.

Uncle Army was very spiritual. But, the Holy Spirit and You for him were not usually found in a church. Rather, Army experienced, found and communed with You in the beauty and wonder of nature. His church was under the canopy of the branches of towering oaks, pines, and redwoods in the forests of America. The altar for him was a fallen tree log on which he sat as he marveled at Your creation. The warmth of the Holy Spirit was felt on his skin in the crackling blaze of a campfire. The choir of angels was heard in the symphonic chirping and whistling of wild birds in the woods.

I was blessed to take Uncle Army on the last fishing trip in his life.

As we sat on the pier and fished on Tres Palacios Bay I asked him, “Uncle Army, what is your secret for successfully overcoming the daunting problems you have faced.” He sat quietly for a moment and said with conviction, “Bubba, I have gone fishing almost every Friday since I was 50 years old. Often, when I cast the rod, my heart is burdened with worry. I see no way to face or solve a problem in my family, at my office or at home. Remarkably, by doing nothing but watching the cork bob on the water’s surface, I am at peace and answers appear.”

God, few of us can go fishing every Friday and find Your peace and direction in watching the cork bob. But, we can pray every day. In prayer, when we place our heavy hearts in Your hands, and sit quietly in the full nature of Your love, the answers will surely come. Our catch will be calm wisdom. As Army knew You in nature, may we know peace in prayer with You. Amen

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