Bending Angel

Prayer to Find Labor’s Rest in God Alone – September 6, 2021

September 5, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

For you and for me this Labor Day weekend is like no other in our lives, (except for 2020). When we are working at the office or 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 nations which present unprecedented challenges in our One Nation under God. In grieving for those who have died during the Pandemic. In seeing so many children suffer in pediatric wards across the country. In witnessing incivility in the public and private debates whether to mask or not to mask, to receive the vaccine or refuse to get it, and the shaming of those on both sides of the issues. In adapting to address the Coronavirus which changes and challenges us every day. Even for the vaccinated and the masked, due to the Delta variant, millions of us still fear infection if we simply go to the store, dine out with friends or attend in-person church services. The list goes on and on doesn’t it?

Labor Day weekend last year in 2020 was a big change for me and my family. Because Dorothy and I lived in a three-generational home with our beloved daughter and three school-aged grandchildren, we moved to our bay home, Camp PawPaw, with its beautiful view of Tres Palacios Bay. The beauty of the bay did not compare with being with those we loved each day. For over five months we lived at Camp PawPaw separated from those we love in order to protect ourselves from harm. Dorothy and I celebrated New Year’s Eve by getting the Moderna vaccine. After our second dose, we returned home.

Getting the vaccine seemed like a miracle. We believed we were finally stepping out of the dark and into the light. Immediately, our lives would return to normal. Like you, that’s not what happened. What will the new normal look like? For now, only God knows the answer to that question.
None of us like the changes forced upon us, do we? The Coronavirus is nimble and changes every day. 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 that 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 2021, 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?

God has spoken to us in Scripture about where to turn.
Scripture in Psalm 62:1:
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. Let us pray together.

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, 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. To think of the safety and protection of others as much as ourselves.

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.

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

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

Prayer to Do All I Can – August 29, 2021

August 30, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Last Thursday, August 26, was another anniversary of a day I will never forget. On the 26th of August when I was six I watched my mother watching me as I sat in Doctor Sterling’s lap. At that moment I believed mom was crying tears of blood. Actually, her tears were wet streams of mascara running down her face. Mom braced her grief by leaning against my father who stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her. As Dad held Mom in his arms, he leaned against the wall next to the tall bedroom dresser. Dad could not see the face of my mother which I saw. Her devastation and disbelief are imprinted in my memory until I am no more.

Like any parent at that moment of stark recognition when their child contracted paralytic polio, I am certain she was devastated. Without words. Asking herself and God, “How can this happen to Bubba?”

There was one question she never had to ask herself. “Did I do all I could to protect Bubba from polio?”

Mom never wanted any of her children to end up like sweet little Margaret Airola down our road in 1952. Margaret contracted paralytic polio and had to remain in an Iron Lung to breathe for the rest of her life. So, Mom read the newspaper to keep abreast of every way to protect her children. She made sure we did not go swimming even in August’s sweltering heat. We could not play with other kids who might be sick or had a cold. She made us come inside the house each afternoon to rest for several hours. Mom knew that polio was a fecal virus. Every month, especially after a flood from White Oak Bayou, she ran a bottle of water from our water well. Then, Mom dropped off the sample to be tested by Abbott Laboratories. Mom made us take daily vitamins and have well-balanced meals. She took us to Dr. Montgomery’s office on Montrose Boulevard to get a gamma-globulin shot every six weeks to boost our immune systems. Because Mom believed in the power of God to protect us from harm, we knelt beside each other at bedtime to say the Lord’s Prayer together.

What more could my mother have done to keep me from getting polio? Absolutely nothing. Mom never had to regret not having done all she could to spare me of polio and the long-haul challenges of the disease she most feared.

Now, in the Pandemic we have another dreaded, deadly, nimble, continuously evolving, life-altering disease with long haul effects for its survivors. If someone you know or love, such as a spouse, partner, child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, dies or contracts Covid-19, will you be like my mother? Will you be able to say, “At least I did all I could’ve done.”?

God has spoken to us in Scripture about protecting and caring for others.

Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and unto their children after them.

Philippians 2:4
Everyone should look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others.

Proverb 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, I am worried about Covid-19 and its mutations infecting, harming, or killing those I love.

God, please inform me of the things I can and cannot do to safeguard others from harm.

God, just as You look after me in my sleeping and in my waking, please help me to do all I can to protect others from Covid-19.

God, in the event my efforts do not prevent Covid from harming others, may Your love transform the bad of Covid into goodness for Your creation and the darkness of the Pandemic into light. 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.

Photo credit: medscape.com

Prayer to Know What Love Is – August 22, 2021

August 22, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here to listen to Jack’s song, “What Is Love?”

You and I have spent a lifetime learning what love is. It is in you and me. It magnificently shines like tonight’s full moon from the lips, and hugs and the little things children do.

God is love but so are we if we treat others as God commands us to do.

God’s love has given you and me many gifts. These gifts must be given away in order to keep them.

As many of you know in high school I played the keyboard for two popular area bands, The Minutemen, and Beau Geste. Years ago some of you heard the bands at dances you attended, private parties, The Carousel Skating Rink on Old Katy Road, and the Music Hall.

Since the age of seventeen I have been writing songs but never published any of them on social media. In my sleep and in prayer I heard what I believe were the lips of God to create the tune and write the words to my song, What Is Love, recently copyrighted for me by my dear friend and entertainment lawyer, Yocel Alonso.

God has placed in my path two talented artists to be a part of this and other songs to come. One is Stephanie Jones who has the voice of an angel and guitarist, Brian Carrion, to arrange, to play the strings and vocal accompaniment to capture the beauty and meaning of the song. My deepest praise and thanks to Stephanie and Brian.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about receiving and sharing gifts He has given us.
1 Peter 4:10
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Dear God, in prayer may we discover the gifts You have have given us.

God, may we be thankful for receiving them.

God, please help each of us to use, develop and share those gifts with others to Your glory.

God, as we share our gifts, like Jack’s song, What Is Love, please give them the wings of angels to touch the hearts of others with Your love. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

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

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

Prayer to Unite and Inform the Vaccinated and Unvaccinated in America – August 2, 2021

August 3, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

In eighth grade at Dean Junior High in English class our teacher had us read an essay on America being a “melting pot”. America’s greatness was defined and determined by the diversity among its people from all over the world. At homeroom every day we said the Pledge of Allegiance to reaffirm that we were One Nation Under God. Yet, beneath those truths then and now how much were we, and are we truly being great in our diversity? How much are we truly united as One Under God?

Every day we see others open up their pocketbooks and their hearts to take care of their brothers and sisters who need food, clothing, and shelter. Many who have been orphaned from hope in America like my muscles were after polio when they were no longer connected to nerves which died with the virus.

We have social media to entertain us and bring us closer to one another. Or, the same technology which isolates us from others. Or, drive us apart with misinformation and falsehoods.

We have Covid-19 and now Delta. Just as we began to see Covid in our rearview mirrors, we face the prospect of Delta wave after wave. We hope masking and social distancing will be enough to prevent crowded ICUs, suffering, and death.

We have Covid vaccines to prevent suffering as I experienced with polio in 1954. I was one of 300,000 polio victims in that year. My parents had no vaccine to spare me of my fate. I can say with absolute certainty, because of the vaccine and the work of Jonas Salk, that hundreds of millions of children around the world will never know the suffering they missed. What I cannot forget and have to live with every day. Thankfully, with Rotary International’s work to eradicate polio, there is only a hand full of cases in the entire world each year.

In 1955 it was everyone’s public duty to get the polio vaccine. To protect themselves and others from harm. All children were inoculated at schools without being faced with strong opposition by doubters. Now, many believe that the Covid vaccines will cause more harm than Covid or Delta.

We are faced with a choice. What is best for America’s public health and the individual’s private right to choose not to get vaccinated? That right includes the parental choice to not have their children vaccinated.

A simple Google search shows a range of opinions from the Moderna’s vaccine being a miracle from God or to being an agent of the Devil. Science and the CDC say that the benefits of the vaccines outweigh the risks. Private posts claim that the vaccines alter human DNA, have a mind-control chip planted in them, or cause sterility in women. The line between truth and fiction is blurred. In all of this how many of us think about how God wants us to deal with getting vaccinated?

So, where is this prayer going? Am I just rambling? Well, God gives each of us the right to choose. To believe or disbelieve. To listen in prayer to God and carefully consider God’s will in making choices.

Many of my dearest friends and family have chosen to get vaccinated just like me. Many of those I love and who love me have chosen not to get vaccinated. Whether vaccinated or not I choose not to judge them. I choose to love. I choose to respect the rights of others to make choices. I choose to believe that we can be more of that One America. To be great in the diversity of our people. To respect the opinions of others which form our present and shape our future. I choose to pray to God and to listen to find calm wisdom. To be informed by God to do the right thing for me, for others, and for you. I believe that if we all listen to God we will do what is best for our Country, our brothers and sisters.

God has spoken in Scripture about finding hope, healing, and direction in such messy times as ours today.

Psalm 32:8
The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.

Jeremiah 3:15
And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding.

Let us pray together.

God, in prayer please show us the way to be one and to be great in our diversity as Your people.

God, please help us not judge others for their right to decide whether to be vaccinated from Covid 19.

God, in prayer please inform us of Your will as we decide whether or not to get vaccinated.

Last, whether or not we are vaccinated, please shine Your light on each of us to protect us from infection and harm from Covid-19, the Delta, or any other mutation which comes our way. 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.

Prayer for Gratitude to Overcome Grief – July 11, 2021

July 15, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Whether you are young, middle-aged, or old we all experience grief. We lose something or someone we love. Our loved ones depart. We bury our beloved pets. We are left behind. In that vacuum of loss, we suffer. We grieve. We cry.

Later in life, we see a life-long dream will not happen no matter how hard we work. The once possible becomes impossible. Financial security will not be attained. Physical health will not be restored. Some items on our bucket lists will die before we do.

Expectations of children being financially independent, or taking trips to Europe and far-off lands, or that career goal or big investment paying off become false hopes. That retirement with your spouse which you’ve looked forward to for many years ends with a divorce petition being served on you.

For me when I grieve for what I lost with polio and paralysis, I am sad that I cannot and will not ever run, jump, play golf, dance with Dorothy, play tennis, ride a bike or take a hike. Even now I cannot do what I did in my 30’s like walk a half-mile or ride a stationary bike for three miles.

Yet, what I can do to overcome my grief is to reflect and be grateful for cherished memories and times I have spent with those I love. For example, this iconic photograph of Dorothy and me in 1978 as we stood together smiling on Nob Hill with the San Francisco Bay behind us. On that magical day, I was able to walk the streets of San Francisco and Ghirardelli Square without the assistance of a motorized wheelchair.

At that moment all I needed was my walking cane, Dorothy, and her love for me.

Six years later I was one of 100 000 polio survivors who suffered post-polio syndrome (PPS). With it came the sudden and unexpected weakness in the muscles I had regained after years of rehabilitation from polio. After feeling twice cursed and in deep emotional pain, my thoughts turned to gratitude. Gratefulness for being able to function so well for nearly four decades after polio. That gratitude overcame and overshadowed my grief. With gratefulness, I remained strong, courageous, positive, and happy.

Later, that gratitude enabled me to spend nights in an Iron Lung for five years with PPS and still ably serve as President of both the Gulf Coast Family Law Specialists and the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists-Houston Chapter. At that time, because of that strength and support from God, I never felt the need to share this journey with my colleagues or the judges I appeared before in court for hearings and trials. All because of gratitude, the Glory, and the Grace of God.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about gratefulness.

Psalm 103:2-5
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer, may we be forever grateful for the blessings You have bestowed on us.

God, please open our eyes and hearts to see the experiences and the people who reside in the deep well of gratitude within us.

God, in time, may our gratitude overcome and overshadow our grieving for what once was and the hardships of life and love.

Last, may our gratitude be shared with You in prayers of thanksgiving; for with You in Heaven, ultimately, all our dreams will be fulfilled. Amen.

If you like this prayer, please share.

Prayer to Weed Our Garden in Relationships with Others – July 4, 2021

July 3, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

I watch garden shows on HGTV and YouTube channels featuring programs on decluttering. I am often struck by how much of what is learned there applies to my life and yours too.

If one does not remove from home the clutter, what is important and needed cannot be found or seen. If one does not put away in an organized way the important papers, so much time and frustration is spent on locating them. I know at times I have had to go to the store and buy an item I knew I had but could not find.

What a waste of time and financial resources. Do you remember how you felt when you stayed in a nicely decorated and uncluttered hotel room?

If one does not weed the garden, the weeds take over. They hide or kill the plants that produce the herbs we eat and the fruit and vegetables we consume at the table. The beauty in the garden is lost, stifled, or dies.

Have you ever thought about how the lessons in weeding the garden or decluttering a home apply to your relationships with others? Your spouse? Your kids? Your parents and siblings? Your neighbors?

Dub Brooks, a dear friend, and minister said once, “God gives us a garden. But, we have to weed it ourselves.”

God wants us to declutter our relationships. To weed our relationships of the weeds. Like ongoing resentments. Like not forgiving others for past transgressions. Like bringing up over and over again old wounds to blame those we love. Forgiveness is like a pre-emergent non-toxic herbicide to end once and for all such things.

Weeding our relationships of other things too is important. Like not listening to others with our hearts. Like not overlaying one’s will over the wife or husband we love. Giving up on never losing an argument. Not being judgmental.

When we lead with love the weeds never have a chance to grow in the garden of our love for one another.

I recall a man who hired me to represent him in a collaborative divorce. His wife left him for another man. He said he was caught totally by surprise. On questioning, I learned quickly that he had stopped leading with love in his relationship with his wife of 25 years. I asked, “When have you last told your wife you loved her?” His reply, “I don’t need to do that. She knows I love her.” “When you have given her flowers,” I asked. His reply, “When her mother died ten years ago.” “When have you taken her on a vacation alone?” He said, “Never. We’ve only gone with the kids.” “When have you been intimate with each other in bed?” He replied, “Not in years.”

I am not saying this man was solely the cause of the beauty, the joy, and wonder of the marriage being lost. But, it was clear to me he had not decluttered, weeded, or cultivated the blessing of his marriage. He was a very good, church-attending man. He just had not been a very good gardener in his marital relationship. The weeds finally overtook what little was left in the marriage relationship.

God has spoken in Scripture about helping us to weed the gardens He has given us.

Isaiah 58:11
The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer, please help us to lead with love in our actions with others, others who are gifts to us from You.

Please help us to recognize the clutter and the weeds in our relationships especially in marriage and family. In that recognition, please strengthen us to weed and remove the things which separate us from each other or worse kill the happiness, joy, and growth within ourselves and others.

God, we thank You for the garden in our hearts and in our lives. With Your help may we harvest the best in life and love for us and those You have sent our way. 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.

God’s Love Is Our Cross to Bear – June 27, 2021

June 28, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

As Christians each of us was taught the story of Jesus carrying the Cross to Calvary. It was a burden. It was difficult. It was agonizing. It preceded horrific suffering and death for Him.

In that context, if you are like me, we think about carrying our own crosses. For me, it was and is polio. Paralysis. Grieving over the things I could not do after polio. Carry my kids and grandkids on my shoulders. Play golf, tennis, football or basketball. In my calling as a Collaborative Attorney, I witness husbands and wives and their kids carrying the cross of divorce.

There were three crosses at Calvary. For humankind the number of crosses we each bear are limitless. Cancer. Covid-19. The death of loved ones. Getting our hearts broken as we watch our kids and grandkids suffer loss, get into trouble, or make messes for themselves and others. Finally, having to give up on life-long dreams, just to name a few.

In a different context what Jesus carried was not just the cross. What He carried from the beginning until the very end of His life was His Father’s Love for Him and for us and our salvation.

God’s Love is our cross to bear too. To think about others more than ourselves. To sacrifice our own needs and comfort in compassion and service to others. To forgive others as we were and are forgiven by God. Because God’s Love was Christ’s Cross to bear as well as ours.

God has spoken in Scripture as to what carrying the Cross means to us.

Luke 9:23-25
Then He said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

Let us pray together.

God, in prayer may we recognize that Your Love is our cross to bear.

May we each be strengthened to carry the burden of doing, saying, acting, living and loving others as You have loved us.

May we each know by faith that we will be rewarded in Your time in the manner we bear the cross of Your love for us. That we will be raised up on our last day on Earth just as Your Son, Jesus Christ, was lifted up into Your arms forever and ever in His sacrifice for all humankind. 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 Fathers Who Are Fishers of Men and the Women They Love – June 20, 2021

June 20, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Don’t we all have iconic photographs which have etched in our hearts the way we remember our fathers? The pictures capture not only the way our fathers looked on the outside to us. They also reflect through the prism of a moment frozen in time the true essence of the children God made who became men and fathers of us.

My father died in 2015. The best part of him dwells in the father I am. I will never wade fish in the Laguna Madre or Topolobampo, Mexico like him. Yet, I can be that same exemplary rock of faith, hope, love and care for my children and grandchildren as he was.

So, today I share with you this image of my dad, the fisherman who loved fishing more than anything else except me and my brothers and sister and, of course, my mother.

I learned more from Dad than just how to fish. Dad showed me something that all great dads do for their children. He showed me how to love Dorothy as my wife and mother of our children. How to reel in, capture, love, caress and care for the woman who day in and day out is responsible for the kids when I am not with them.

God has spoken in Scripture of our fathers.

Psalm 32:7-7
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Proverbs 4:11-12
I will guide you in the way of wisdom and I will lead you in upright paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered, and when you run, you will not stumble.

Dear God, the Father of all creation,

Your Son was a fisher of men.

On this Father’s Day

I am proud to say

My father was a fisherman too.

He lived a life in service to You.

5,000 could have been fed

From the rod he cast over his head.

Yet, his greatest catch was his faith in You

And of Your love and what it can do.

God, please tell my dad I miss him so

And all the fishing trips we used to go.

Every son needs a father as him

Who wore sunglasses and a hat with a brim.

Thanks for my dad never being lost at sea

For sending him to Earth and a son like me. 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 Simplicity in Our Complex World – June 13, 2021

June 13, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

When I was a young student in middle school I and my classmates read Walden by Henry David Thoreau, the great American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. Like most young souls I did not have any idea about the complexities of adulthood. After all, my parents took care of everything. What could’ve been simpler than that?

At the University of Houston, my wonderful Sociology Professor, Sheila Sheinberg, caused me to revisit Thoreau. Sheila warned her students about how our gadgets and possessions would soon pose significant barriers to experiencing nature. To live the simple life. Further, as we owned more of them, we would have to work ever harder to pay for them. All the hours and days spent working to pay for them would represent time away from the beauty of the Earth God created for us to enjoy. That Sociology class was long before the Internet of Things, Facebook, Google, personal computers, the iPhone, and other electronic devices.

With age and technology I find myself, like you, a human cyborg of sorts navigating a more and more increasingly complex and overly stimulated existence. My wheelchair has become my legs. My ear pods have become my ears. My iPhone and Google have become my augmented brain. I have to work hard to be fully in the present and to strive for the simple living in natural surroundings which Thoreau set as an example for all of us.

I do not know if Professor Sheinberg is alive anymore or where she lives. But, her love of teaching the good and simple life remains in my heart and mind so many years later.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about simplicity and contentment.

1 Timothy 6:6-8
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Proverbs 11:28
Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.

Dear God, when I awaken tomorrow, may my heart be ever grateful for Your gift to me of another day on Earth.

God, with prayer every day please help me to look forward to seeing, hearing, feeling, and touching the beauty around me.

To hold a young child.

To embrace one I love.

To hear a bird’s song or the notes of a beautiful symphony.

To listen in the silence of prayer for the beat of angel wings around me.

To plan at least one simple, small thing to look forward to or accomplish this day.

God, in being more mindful and present each and every day may I see a glimpse of the joy, pleasure and peace that await me in Heaven with You. 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 Feed the Best Wolf within Us – June 6, 2021

June 6, 2021 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

My wife, Dorothy, loves to watch murder mysteries on television. One of her favorites is Death in Paradise. After she watched Episode 6 of Season 6, Dorothy said to me, “You have to watch the scene in this show.”

While on a stakeout, in passing the time, Jack said to Humphrey “My grandfather told me a story once. About these two wolves fighting inside all of us. One of them was anger, envy, self-pity, regret. And the other one is love, truth, faith, hope. That sort of thing. I asked him which one of the wolves would win? You know what he said? He said, ‘Whichever one you feed’.”

The tale of the two wolves existed long before the screenplay was written for Death in Paradise. To me, the wolves represent the heavenly voice in each of us. And the earthly voice which speaks to all of us in our walks of faith. One part of us is self-centered. Focusing on the self. I am the most important. My needs come first. I have every right to express my anger. To blame others for what happens to me. To hold a grudge. I am never part of a problem I face. I know the solution to everything. I have the right, in all honesty, to share my opinion and judgment with and overlay my will on others.

Which wolf inside of you and me will win the race? Which voice will prevail? The one which reflects God’s love? Which speaks His truth? The one that brings us closer to God and one another? Or the one which takes us the wrong direction. The path of indifference, intolerance, and even hate. The self-righteous and judgmental which is really closer to Hell on Earth for us? The one in you who will win is the one you feed. The good and Godly one who receives from you food for the soul. Nourishment of the spirit.

What can you do to feed the good and Godly part of you? Go to church. Read scripture. Take a Bible class. Pray daily. Do acts of kindness for others. Volunteer at a food bank or soup kitchen. Listen to or sing hymns. Seek your own way to nourish the best part of you who God created.

As to the heavenly voice in me, I use prayer and scripture every day to hear it. To deafen my ears from hearing the earthly, spiritless and dark voices which separate me from others and most importantly, God.

With Facebook, social media, NBC, CNN, FOX News, podcasts galore, being left, middle, right, liberal, conservative, Democratic, Republican or Independent we hear so much. With God’s help are you able to protect yourself from words or acts of hatred that feed the lesser, the bad wolf in you? In listening to certain dialogue or viewing certain online videos are you feeding the best wolf in you? Are you feeding the part of you which is love, gives love, and lives life closer to God and your neighbor?

God has spoken in scripture as to the importance of feeding the spirit in You and me.

Matthew 4:4
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Dear God, as Your children we have the need to hear Your word.
God, in prayer please help us to hear Your word. If we are not feeding our soul, we are feeding something else.

God, please help us to be ever mindful to feed the good and sacred part in us. For that is necessary for our spirits to grow and to magnify Your love on Earth. For our service to You to be acts of love, truth, faith, hope.

God, in the story the better wolf which is fed by us will live. In Your story of the birth, death, and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our spirits which are fed by You will live and love forever. Amen
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