Bending Angel

Prayer for Noah’s Flood, Enemas, and Cleansing Prayer – March 28, 2021

March 28, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God and mankind have been dealing with messes forever. In the Old Testament God was so dissatisfied with the level of sin of His children on Earth He brought about a flood of waters so deep and powerful that only the humans and animal inhabitants on the Ark survived. God used the flood to wash away the mess mankind had made on Earth.

My dear mother was of German descent. Somewhere in her upbringing, she must have learned to believe that an enema was good for whatever ailed the body. In fact, there was no limit on the condition I had as a child to justify getting another enema from Mom. A fever. Yes. A runny nose. Yes. A cough. Yes. Lethargy. Yes. At those moments Mom was always prepared to say, “Bubba, drop your drawers. It’s time for an enema.” No need for me to complain. It was going to happen.

In fact, the benefit of enemas was also embraced by one of my aunts to address one of my first cousins repeatedly getting a sick stomach at school. For three straight days, my aunt received a call from the school. The nurse said, “Billy (not his real name) is complaining his stomach hurts. You need to come and get him.” On the third day, upon arriving home from school with my cousin, my aunt informed him, “I need to give you an enema now since you are too sick to stay at school.” My cousin replied, “I feel much better now.” That offered no relief in avoiding the enema. My aunt stated frankly, “If you don’t feel good enough to stay in school, you must feel bad enough to get an enema.” The enema must have cured my cousin’s stomach problem as he never had the nurse call home again for the rest of his education.

I personally deal with the messes of others in my calling as a collaborative divorce attorney. I have learned that the benefits of prayer are profound. Whether the divorce is caused by adultery, an addiction, insensitivity to meeting the needs for affection, or other breaches of trust, it naturally causes anger, bitterness, lack of forgiveness, and anxiety. Those emotions do not help resolve divorce in a constructive or loving way. The emotional weeds get in the way of seeing the big picture. What is most important? The children. Showing the kids how to end legal relationships. Acting to effectively co-parent the children with a former spouse. To protect the kids from being involved in parental conflict. Or, alternatively, using the lawyers, the courts, the legal system, and even worse the kids to punish the other spouse. To focus on blame and the problems instead of on peacemaking and finding solutions.

In my practice, I have witnessed that prayers in divorce have cleansed the hearts and minds of the emotional mess of the spouses I have served. Their divorces were resolved because of the results of prayer. Forgiveness. Compassion. Empathy. Understanding. Even mercy.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about such things as the cleansing of the Earth, the body, and the spirit.

Genesis 7:11
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

Psalm 107:28-30
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Let us pray.

God, in prayer please help us to wash away our sins which separate us from You and others in our lives and in our greater world.

God, in Baptismal water, we are marked as Yours forever. May we as Your children be made purer and more reflective of Your love in what we think, in what we say, and in what we do because of daily prayer. Last, in prayer may we find the most powerful cleansing agent on Earth. Your love for us despite our messes, our faults, our failings, and our imperfections. 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 www.BendingAngel.com website.

Photo credit: WalMart

Prayer for Dimes for Times to Reflect Kindness – March 19, 2021

March 19, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here for Jack’s video of this prayer.

My mother knew that my favorite birthday cake was chocolate with her smooth dark buttery chocolate icing. Every year in my youth she placed before me a beautiful single-layer homemade chocolate birthday cake. I blew out the candles which glowed with the light of her love for me. As I was her birthday boy she cut the first piece of the cake just for me. Mom always gave me the piece which contained a shiny dime wrapped in aluminum foil. That tradition for me and my siblings and that dime reflected my mother’s kindness. That simple act made me feel special and valued by her. Even though polio changed me and the number of the candles on each cake in the years which followed were different, I always received from Mom that same simple token of love and kindness from her.

My mother died in 2010. Yet, the remembrance of the dimes she placed in my birthday cakes keeps reflecting her acts of kindness to me.

After the polio epidemic in America, the March of Dimes campaign raised millions for victims like and thousands of others. Those acts of kindness in donating dimes even paid for the Iron Lung I used for four years after contracting polio.

In the early 1990s, I took a Rainbow Trout fishing trip on the White River with my dear friend, Bill. (I name him Bill as he and his beautiful wife are private people). Bill and I had one of the best guides on the river, “Hot Dog Curtis.” As we peacefully floated down a portion of the White River near Bull Shoals, we were catching Rainbow Trout right and left. Bill was so impressed with Hot Dog’s talents he asked for his business card. As Hot Dog leaned across the boat and pulled his card out of his wallet, a dime fell out of it and into the river. The water was moving nearly 14 miles an hour because a large number of flood gates were open at Bull Shoals Dam. The spring-fed water was nearly 40°. When the dime hit the water, Hot Dog screamed, “Oh, No. I’ve lost the dime my father gave me before he died. It’s my good luck charm.”

Instantly Bill said, “Don’t worry, Hot Dog. I’ll jump in the water and get it for you.” Hot Dog replied, “No, you don’t have to do that for me.” To that Bill said, “Yes, I do. No problem.” To my amazement, Bill took off his shirt and jumped into the frigid water. Under the conditions, I thought the chances of recovering the dime at the bottom of the river was impossible. After the first dive into the water, Bill came up empty. After a deep breath, Bill dove back in. Again, for the second time, Bill came up empty. Then, on his third attempt, Bill rose to the surface with Hot Dog’s dime in his right hand and gave it back to him. Hot Dog profusely thanked Bill for his sacrificial act of human kindness.

I had an occasion to speak to Hot Dog last week. Hot Dog is 62 years old now. We spoke about the trip he took with Bill and me many years ago. Hot Dog said that he doesn’t know where the wallet or the dime is anymore. But, he said he will never forget Bill stepping out of the warmth of his comfort zone that day, diving into the frigid water, and doing an exceptional act of kindness for him.

Acts of kindness never die. They keep on living and keep on giving to us purpose and self-worth. Acts of kindness are not confined to those from my mother or those from Bill. All of us have received them from others. We all have the capacity to be kind to others.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about kindness.

Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such, there is no law.

Let us pray,

God, in prayer please help our hearts to see and seize opportunities to be kind to others. It is in giving acts of kindness to others that we receive pleasure in knowing we have truly helped them.

God, please enable us to know that when we are kind to others for their sake, not ours that we are serving You, our Creator of everlasting life, love, and light.

Last, God, may we acknowledge that a small act of kindness can have profound consequences for another. Stopping to give a bottle of cold water to a homeless man or woman on a hot day; paying for a cup of coffee for the person behind in the line at Starbucks, or just listening to a person recounting a loss or personal difficulty, or a receiving a dime in a birthday cake for a young boy. Well, God, like Your love for us, our kindness can shine in the memory of others for a lifetime. Kindness can even author a prayer like this. 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 here to go to Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Jack-H-Emmott/e/B01BZFHSBW?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000

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 www.BendingAngel.com website.

Prayer for the Bit of George the Pelican in Each of Us – March 7, 2021

March 7, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here for Jack’s video version of this prayer.

Last week’s prayer on the Everlasting Legacy of Love originated from observing George the Pelican and witnessing his return to the place he received love and acceptance from our neighbor Mertz. Mertz’s legacy of love touched many on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. I appreciated all the comments on Facebook. In particular, an email from Michael Craig, one of my dearest friends and wonderful collaborative divorce attorney, struck me in the heart. So much so Michael’s remarks became the basis of this week’s sequel prayer and the title of this prayer.

Michael wrote:

Dear Jack, A marvelous prayer and a wonderful illustration of love and devotion. This legacy of love is truly something to hand down to our children and our children’s children. Sadly, it also reflects the nature of a widow or widower after a half-century with a devoted spouse. Old habits and committed love die hard. Many of my continual habits of affection with Betty, even during this last chapter of her life in a cloud of Alzheimer’s, will continue by virtue of habit after she is gone. And so there is a bit of George in each of us. A habit that is not so much a longing as one that retains a fond memory.

In this long time of the Long Goodbye, Michael has made sure that as there is less and less of Betty there is more and more of him. More and more of his love. More and more of the Light of God in his service to Betty, his devoted wife, and bride.

Michael observed that soon Betty will be gone to make her final journey to Heaven to join the God she faithfully served in her ministry at The Foundry United Methodist Church in Jersey Village, Texas. But like George, Michael knows that as long as his heartbeats and his mind can remember, he will return each day to the place where Betty was with him and where he received her devoted love and care.

Whether due to Alzheimer’s, cancer, a tragic accident, the Coronavirus or just old age, the truth Michael speaks is that there is a George the Pelican in all of us. The person who is left behind. The one who remembers. The one who returns to the place love was received. The place where love was given. To feed on glorious memory and the innumerable blessings God bestowed on the one left behind through the kindness, care, and love of the departed. God has spoken to us in Scripture about what happens to those left behind and what fills the void and the darkness in the wake of the death of loved ones.

Luke 1:78-79

Because of our God’s deep compassion, the dawn from heaven will break upon us, to give light to those who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide us on the path of peace.

Revelation 21:4-5

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

Let us pray together.

God, we thank You for Michael Craig’s enlightened words that there is a bit of George the Pelican in all of us.

God, we thank You for Betty and all others who have lived, served, and loved in Your name. God, when we sit in the pain of loss and in the darkness of grief, please give us peace and light.

God, please embrace the bit of George in all of us with Your never-failing love, comfort, and healing. Amen.

If you like this prayer, please share.

Photo credit: Parade.com

Prayer for the Everlasting Legacy of Love – February 28, 2021

February 28, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here to enjoy Jack’s video version of this prayer.

For the last five months Dorothy and I have sought refuge from the Coronavirus at Camp PawPaw. Camp PawPaw overlooks Tres Palacios Bay with a myriad of water fowl to entertain us from dawn until sunset each day. Some of the water creatures seem to perform the same way day after day. Others appear for a few weeks and will not be seen again for a while in observance of migratory habits rooted in ancient history.

One repeat performer is a beautiful Brown Pelican who lands nearly every day on the stair rail of Sissy Taylor’s pier a few houses down from us. The Pelican is an elder by human standards. He has an 18-inch-long bill and a large throat pouch. His head is white in front and dark brown in the back. This regal bird has silver-gray feathers that adorn the rest of his body.

Judging by his appearance our frequent Pelican visitor must be about 25-30 years old. Clearly near the end of his time on Earth.

Countless times Dorothy and I have wondered why the Pelican returns to this unlikely perch. All the other Pelicans sit on the ends of the neighboring barnacle encrusted navigation posts in the bay or lined up like a platoon of Army soldiers on the ends of the piers at the conclusion of their exhausting day dive bombing for fish in the bay. But not our Pelican. He is committed to always return to the same perch. But, why?

The mystery became clear a couple of weeks ago. Our friend, Sissy Taylor, explained it to us. Twenty years or so ago there lived in a neighboring house a Magnus Mertz. Known to everyone simply as Mertz. Each day Mertz cast for bait fish with his casting net. A Pelican landed near him. He stood there as if to ask Mertz to be served him a meal, his daily bread from man to a feathered friend. Mertz gave the Pelican part of his catch. After that first meeting, the Pelican and Mertz repeated that ritual nearly every day for the years which followed. They eventually, became such good friends Mertz named the Pelican George. Soon George was following Mertz into his garage to be hand-fed mullet and just hang out with him.

Mertz moved away from Palacios a few years later to live closer to his family. Relocating to be with family was a huge win for Mertz. But, it was a big loss for George.

So, even now, many years later and without receiving his daily bread and friendship from Mertz, George still returns. Still remembers. Still sits on his perch. To be at kind of holy place. A place that Dorothy and I witness and appreciate Mertz’ everlasting legacy of love to George. George officiates the sacred happening that we are fortunate to know and celebrate because we understand the mystery revealed to us by Sissy.

God has spoken to us in Scripture as to the legacy of love.

Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.

Psalms 78:4
We will not keep them from our children; we will tell the next generation about the Lord‘s power and his great deeds and the wonderful things he has done.

3 John 1:4
I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.

God, I thank You for the lesson in the everlasting legacy of love as represented by George, the Brown Pelican, on Tres Palacios Bay.

God, in prayer please guide, support and enable me to leave an everlasting legacy of love in my service to You and Your children.

God, when I have joined You in Heaven, please show to others on Earth the signs of my works in Your name as I have witnessed in watching the George, the Brown Pelican. Each day he pays homage to the blessings he received from his friend, the fisherman and the giver of daily bread that feeds George’s soul forever and ever. 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 in Thanksgiving for the Life of Mary Ann Maxwell – February 21, 2021

February 22, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

With her life-long devoted friend Carol Waldrop at her side in Rockport, Texas on February 6, 2021, Mary Ann Maxwell left the Earth.

In sending her to us God had special plans for Mary Ann’s life. The gifts which He bestowed upon Mary Ann enabled her to become a world-renowned bridal authority. First, working at Saks Fifth Avenue in Hollywood, California. Then, at Neiman Marcus and Sakowitz in Houston. Thereafter, Mary Ann opened her own extremely successful bridal consulting business in 1978.

For more than 40 years Mary Ann was chosen by brides in Texas, in America, and from royalty to be adorned with glamour and beauty.

At the age of 9 in 1936 in Dallas, Texas at the Texas Centennial Exposition (Texas State Fair) Mary Ann was selected to hand over to child movie star and Honorary Chief of the Rangerettes, Shirley Temple, a cowgirl doll made in Shirley’s image. Now, it is only fitting that the angels have handed over to God Mary Ann’s spirit to hold in His arms.

God, in prayer we thank You for the life and love of Mary Ann Maxwell.

God, we trust that our dear Mary Ann through resurrection and Your grace has now become one with You, the Father of us all. 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 in Grieving for the Loss of Pets – February 7, 2021

February 6, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here for Jack’s video version of this prayer.

I have a picture of my dad, Jack, age 2, holding his favorite chicken in the backyard of his grandmother’s house near Washington and Heights Boulevard in 1922. On January 23, 2021, he would’ve been 102 years of age. Dad died in 2015. His grandmother, Catharine Mary Emmott, the Mother of Memorial Park died in 1948. The grand home is gone too. But, the memory of my dad holding that chicken endures. It is somehow timeless.

Dad was stationed in Italy for five years in WWII. He talked to me about the beauty of Rome, Florence, and Milan. But like the Greatest Generation, he never talked about the war. Another thing he almost never did in my presence was cry.

I recall only two times I saw him cry. He wept in our living room when his bird dog, Pirate, died unexpectedly during the veterinarian’s attempt to kill heartworms before they ended up killing his beloved dog. Dad was so grief-stricken he did not even wipe the tears from his eyes and face.

The second time was when he had to put down Rudy, his black German Shepard, when the dog was so ill, he could no longer get up from the ground on his four legs. Dad petted Rudy’s forehead several times. Then, Dad loaded his WWII German Lugar 22 Caliber Pistol. With a trembling hand and broken heart, pulled the trigger and gave his dear pet, Rudy, a merciful ending to a life well-lived.
Don’t get me wrong. I am sure that Dad grieved for the loss of his wife, my mother Lucile, his parents, siblings, and close friends. But, openly crying in the sight of others was not something I ever witnessed except for Pirate and Rudy.

On Facebook, everyone sees and shares the grief which happens when their four-footed pet dog or cat becomes a memory of the past and another of God’s angel creatures in Heaven. I think the tears of my father and such sharing of grief on Facebook demonstrates just how much the relationship with our pets teaches us about the unconditional love of God. How great it would be if every one of us as God’s children could be as unconditionally loving as Pirate and Rudy were to Dad or as loving as your pets have been to you, my friends.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about what can be taught to us by our pets and uplifting words to heal our grief for the loss of them.

Job 12:7-10
7 But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.
9 Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.

Revelation 21:4-5
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new! Then he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

God, in prayer, we thank You for our beloved pets for through them You’ve taught us about Your unconditional, everlasting love.
God, in prayer, please help us to love one another as we are loved by Your creatures, great and small.

God, in prayer, please provide to each of us the comfort and care we need to heal the grieving for the loss of our pets.

God, in prayer, may we receive Your holy hope that one day we will be reunited in Heaven with our pets. That our barking and purring fur angels will be seen racing to greet us. That we may share with them in Heaven the love which lasts forever and ever. 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.
https://www.amazon.com/Jack-H-Emmott/e/B01BZFHSBW%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Prayer for Angel Eyes Who See Something and Say Something – January 17, 2021

January 17, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

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

I believe in God.

I believe in angels.

Angels in Heaven.

Angels on Earth.

Angels, God’s holy messengers of love and protection.

Angels who are not confined to history and the Bible.

Like the Angel Gabriel or Jacob’s Angel or the Guardian Angel Michael.

Living angels, here and now.

Like the twelve living angels in my book, Bending Angels.

Living angels are everywhere, like Flaviane Carvalho, a Florida restaurant employee, who opened her angel eyes. She saw with her heart a sad 11-year-old boy seated with his family at a Mrs. Potato Restaurant in Orlando, Florida on Dec. 31, 2020.

Flaviane noticed the boy had scratches and bruises. She became more concerned when his parents didn’t order him anything to eat.
Flaviane asked herself, “How can I know that this boy needs help?’ Instantly, she wrote and flashed a note to the boy when his parents weren’t looking. “Do you need help?” When the boy nodded and crossed his arms across his chest, she called 911. This living angel was a messenger to the police of God’s love and protection for this boy.

The police arrived within minutes. The police took the boy to a hospital, where doctors found numerous bruises. He also was 20 pounds underweight.

The boy told detectives that he had been tied up and hung upside down from a door in his home. Also, he had been beaten by his stepfather, handcuffed, and denied food.

The boy and his sister are now out of harm’s way. The angel saw something. Said something.

The abused boy was saved by a note and the angel eyes of a waitress.

God has said in Scripture that angels see, act, and have a place on Earth and in Heaven.

Exodus 23:20
Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

Hebrews 1:14
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Psalm 91:11-12
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up…

Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained

God, in prayer we thank You for Your angels on Earth and in Heaven.

God, in prayer may we see the guardian angels You have appointed to watch over us, night and day.

God, in prayer please call us to be Your living angels on Earth. That we may have the eyes of angels to see and say something to protect all Your children from harm as Flaviane did for the 11-year old boy in Orlando.

God, if we see others in harm’s way or in need, please help us to take the next step, like Flaviane, to say something, to do something, and to lead them to the place You have prepared for them.

God, we may not have the chance to save a child from abuse. But, we can see the lonely neighbor next door and pay a visit, or the poor lady counting pennies in the grocery store line and buy her food, or a cold homeless man sleeping on the street and hand him a blanket. There are tens and tens of thousands of Your angels, may we each be one for You. 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.
https://www.amazon.com/Jack-H-Emmott/e/B01BZFHSBW%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_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 www.BendingAngel.com website.

Photo credit: GoFundMe.org

A Common Prayer for an Uncommon Time in America – January 10, 2021

January 10, 2021 by Jack Emmott 1 Comment

Click here for Jack’s video version of this prayer.

When I was six with polio and in quarantine in the hospital, at my age, I was incapable of understanding how a democracy works, the importance of the rule of law, or in following the United States Constitution. I did know that I did not understand why I could not move my arms or legs or why I could not be home with Mom and Dad. I did not understand how I could ever fit in again or how I could ever belong to what had been or what I had taken for granted.

In that lonely place, an Episcopal minister came into my hospital room dressed in black, a white clerics collared shirt, a smile, and holding a little red book which to me became a sort of Declaration of Independence from the bondages of paralysis.

Father Skarden Daubert said, “Son, I have a small book of prayers I want to give you.” He carefully opened the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and placed the book in my hands. I could not turn the pages. But, I was always able to do what Skarden Daubert asked of me next. “Son, would you like to say a prayer with me from this book?” I nodded, yes.

Almost every day that year at Hedgecroft Hospital Father Daubert came into my room and brought the love and hope of God to me as we prayed together. Most of the emptiness in not understanding my condition and loneliness was filled with what he and prayer did for me every day.

As I held that book of prayers in my hands (which got stronger every day like my faith in God), I swear I could almost feel the healing hands of Jesus holding mine.

Before I was discharged to go home to my family, Father Daubert wrote his name and an inscription in that book just for me. Eight years later I took that prayer book with me to Cy-Fair High School every day. The Principal, Roy Metcalf, asked me to say a prayer over the intercom to the teachers and students at the beginning of classes each day just before the Pledge of Allegiance.

One morning I came to the front office to say the daily prayer. My prayer book was missing. I never found it.

Last week in Washington D.C. at the Capital when the Electoral Votes were being counted a lot happened that I could not understand either. It was not my little red prayer book, but something very special and highly important to America was missing.

And to address the lack of understanding and what was missing and what is needed to heal this Nation as I was healed from polio many years ago, I ask, “Would you, my brothers and sisters, say this prayer with me from that little red Book of Common Prayer?”

Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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 www.BendingAngel.com website.