Bending Angel

Prayer to Separate Us from Our Stuff – September 11, 2022

September 11, 2022 by Ann Boland Leave a Comment

This week I am reposting one of my most read prayers. It’s really hard to let go of our stuff. May God help you and me to remove clutter from our lives.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you like this prayer, please share.

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.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Prayer for Memories Made When Labor Rests – September 5, 2022

September 5, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

What do you remember most when you think of Labor Day and Labor Day weekend?

Margaret Zagst, Jack and Lucile Emmott

For me, it was the annual family trip to the Rio Grande River Valley for the opening of dove season. Mom and Dad loaded up the Jeep Waggoneer which smelled like a big nasty well-smoked cigar on four wheels. Dad acquired it from Bruno Leonard, the cigar aficionado and legendary Manager of KILT Radio.

Driving down Old Highway 59 and cruising through old Texas towns like Harlingen, Refugio, Sinton, and Beeville. Sleepy towns mirrored our eyes all too ready for bed when we rolled into Rancho Viejo Country Club late at night. Joining us were my parents’ friends like Chuck and Marie Zagst. (Chuck took this picture of Marie, Mom, and Dad on one of our trips.) Mom, Dad, Marie, and Chuck have all gone to Heaven. I am certain those dove Dad shot are telling him that they never enjoyed dove season the way he did.

Eating a quick breakfast and heading out Old Military Highway to find and stake out the best shooting spot. Taking positions. Waiting anxiously for 12 noon. The repetitious sounds nearby and in the distance of other hunters shooting and getting their limits of doves for the day.

Tired. Satisfied from the hunt and with clothes soaked in salty sweat it was time to clean and pluck the feathers from the birds. (Yes. None were ever wasted. All were eaten when we got home.) After I married, Dorothy came along. She was very smart. After just one feather-plucking experience, she learned and used the lesson that the one who made Cuba Libres was exempt from this messy chore. Rum. Lime. Coke. A holy trinity of sorts consumed in an almost sacred way by bird-hunting enthusiasts in South Texas.

A quick shower upon returning to Rancho Viejo. At 10:00 pm. off to the now no longer standing Drive Inn Restaurant in Matamoros, Mexico. It was safe. No Los Zetas or drug warring Cartel gangs to fear. For $2.10 you could have three kinds of meat, iced tea, rice, guacamole, chips, salsa, queso, beans, and dessert. It took me only one Singapore Sling to persuade Dorothy to eat the fried frog legs. The first and last time for her.

Driving back to Houston at night and observing the flashing lights in the clouds to the north of Highway 59 caused by the weather anomaly of heat lightning.

Those are my fondest Labor Day remembrances. Like me, as you rest from your labors with family and friends, I hope you can thank God for your Labor Day memories. Because of polio, my body is weak. But, my memory is strong. My heart beats loudly in thanksgiving for times like this long ago.

God has spoken in Scripture about where to find rest from our labors.

Psalm 62:1:
My soul finds rest in God alone.

Dear God, please help me to remember to pray daily. In my prayers to You, I surely find all the rest I need.

God, I am grateful to You for the fruits of my labors that enable me to take time off from work to spend time with family and friends and to make lasting memories to savor for the rest of my days.

God, I praise You for giving me a mind, hands, and heart to earn a living and support those who depend on me.

God, please help me to remember to give more to those who have less.

God, may I strive to labor in ways that always please You.

God, last, I pray, that when my work in service to You is done, I will find eternal and everlasting rest from my 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 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 Caregivers to Care for Themselves – August 21, 2022

August 20, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God has given you and me the capacity to love and care for others. Isn’t taking care of others what God expects of all of us? In caring for others, we give of ourselves. In giving we receive.

In my legal calling, I have worked with hundreds of husbands and wives in divorce and preparing their Wills. I serve. I give. I receive. I get far more value in return for my services than is measured by the amount of legal fees paid to me.

In my demanding, caring job, I do what many of you have done. I postpone caring for my own needs. I put myself second. Dental and routine medical appointments are not timely scheduled. For many months a broken zipper on my favorite pair of slacks is not taken to the tailor. I don’t have lunch with family or friends as I am too busy doing more important things for others. I postpone a long overdue and needed vacation.

Don’t all caregivers need a vacation or break to rest and rejuvenate their minds, bodies, and souls? Rest to refill their cups of compassion and strength to serve others again and again.

I ask you, “Do those, like you and me, with the gift of caring for others, paradoxically, have an equal inability to care for themselves?”

I once had a married couple come to me to prepare their Wills. They were in their 60s. They had been married for 35 years. They only had one child, a son with Downs Syndrome. For 33 years, they had been his sole caregivers. They made sure that his every need was taken care of from bathing, feeding, and beyond. He was their child who never grew up. They had done everything to meet their son’s extensive needs. They even went to the grocery store separately not to leave him alone. The couple had never taken a single vacation since their son was born. They had plenty of money to do that. They just never had the time. As their son got older and bearded in his 30s, he became more difficult to physically manage. He was less compliant in cooperating with their daily caregiving tasks.

When I met the couple, they were considering their deaths. What would happen to their son if both his parents died? How would their beloved disabled son be able to survive? To be happy? I advised them to act and to investigate placing their son in a home or facility suited to meet his needs now. I asked the couple to imagine what their final years together on the Earth would be like if that placement was workable. If the son became a resident elsewhere, the vacuum left behind would give them time to live their unlived dreams and hopes. To take those vacations and to travel in America and around the world.

The couple considered my advice. They researched and located a suitable facility in Austin, Texas. Their son went with them to look around and to see other residents who were just like him. A few weeks later they admitted their son to the facility. Their hearts were heavy. They cried. They left their son behind. They felt they had abandoned the son they loved.

At the signing of their Wills which established a trust for the care of their son, I asked for an update. With tears of joy in their eyes, the parents told me they regularly visited their son in Austin. They were shocked. Even relieved. Despite their fears, the son was happy, well cared for,” and enjoyed socializing with his fellow resident peers. After that time, the couple lived another 15 years. Those years were used to take those dream trips. They were finally able to care for themselves as they had cared for their son.

God has spoken in Scripture about caring for ourselves as we care for others.

Mark 6:31
And Jesus said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

Hebrews 4:9-11
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, I thank You for my ability to care for others. In discharging my duty to You to care for others, I strive to love others as I wish to be loved.

God, please help me know that my care for others is not meant by You to be at the total sacrifice of my own needs. Scripture says that my body is Your temple, a vessel that needs to be maintained and cared for.

God, please help me care for myself so that I may steadfastly and energetically serve You by serving others well.

God, please guide me each day to take the time to do something that brings me rest, preserves my health, and restores my body and soul.

May my self-care enable me to be a better servant and to obey Your command for me to love others and myself as You love me and all Your children. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

Prayer for Gifts of My Birth – August 12, 2022

August 14, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Another year in my life has come and gone. The Earth has completed another circle around the sun. Thankfully, I am alive today to celebrate the day of my birth. I am able to express my thanksgiving to God for my life. I can reflect on the gifts I have received because of this beautiful, difficult, tenuous, exquisite, unpredictable, heartbreaking, and joyous life God gave me. I appreciate everyone who has wished me Happy Birthday or thought of me today. In my way, this prayer is my birthday gift to each of you.

When I was very young, my mother, Lucile, provided me with the happiest birthday memories of my youth. The simple beauty of my birthday parties has never faded with the passage of time. Today, when I got out of bed, my thoughts centered on those birthday parties and on what gifts from God I received from them.

Before each birthday party, I had a crescendo of joyous expectation. Mom set up the picnic table. A colorful tablecloth was placed over it. Homemade ice cream was cranked and ready to go. Party favors were placed on the table. My cousins and friends arrived. Each of them carried packages wrapped in colorful paper. “What was in them?” Then, the games began. Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Bobbing for apples. Dropping clothes pins in a milk bottle. The gunnysack races. Races to reach the finish line with the egg still on the spoon.

After the games, I, the birthday boy, and the other kids sat around the table. Cups of ice cream were placed in front of us. Then, Mom set on the table in front of me the chocolate cake with a decadent layer of chocolate icing.

I recall my mother telling me there was something special inside the cake for the first time. Below the light of the candles burning on top, there was a gift unseen below in the dark layers of the cake—an unseen gift of her love and devotion to me. In the span of my long rich life, I learned this ritual pre-shadowed God’s everlasting unseen gifts to me.

I made a wish and blew out the candles. Mom served to me the first piece of cake. With my fork, I dug like an archeologist for a treasure of sorts. I uncovered a shiny dime wrapped in aluminum foil. No matter how old I got, as long as Mom made a birthday cake for me, she placed that unseen gift in the cake. Today, Dorothy has taken on this tradition for me.

Two weeks after my sixth birthday party (as seen in these photographs) I was paralyzed and quarantined from my parents, siblings, and friends. I was submerged underneath the darkness of paralysis. The only light in the darkness around me was the bright light overhead my bed at Hedgecroft Hospital.

With daily prayer with a priest in my room, the unseen gifts of God hidden in my misery began to be seen by me. Revelation upon revelation of the unseen treasures from God that had greater worth, meaning, and value than all the dimes in my birthday cakes. The eyes of prayer enabled me to see and find lifelong strengths in losing my muscles from polio.

Such love from God empowered me to be stronger. My weaknesses became my biggest strengths as a son, father, husband, grandfather, collaborative divorce attorney, author, songwriter, and servant of my Creator. My fragility and vulnerability provided me the spiritual wisdom of learning that we are all imperfect, broken, and universally healed by Godly love. The darkness of polio allowed me to see unseen light-filled treasures just waiting to be found and shared with others in dark times.

God has spoken in Scripture as to the unseen gifts in our birth from God.

Isaiah 45:3
I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

2 Corinthians 4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Matthew 7:7
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. … Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, please help me to have resilient faith that You have unseen gifts of love for me hidden in dark times in my life.
God, with prayer may I see in the darkness of my struggles, illnesses, and brokenness the unseen gifts of my birth and life from You, so that I may be empowered by Your Holy Spirit to live my life with continued hope, purpose, and conviction.

God, may I find Your hidden holy treasures, blessings, and gifts in the dark times. In so doing may I use such gifts of spiritual wisdom, which by Your grace, become the way to live a deeper and richer life in the glorious light of Your love for me. Amen

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Prayer to Listen to the Voice of God – July 31, 2022

July 30, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

As a collaborative divorce attorney and family law attorney with many years of experience, I have represented many spouses who have benefited from or failed to listen to the voice of God.
Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Life is hard.

When one’s heart is broken, it’s hard not to blame and to shame. It’s hard to refrain from acting to punish the wrongdoer or the one who has breached your trust. Whether married or single, rich or poor, every one of us at times may not consider, listen to and act in accordance with the voice of God.

When I woke up this morning, I read a Facebook post by my dear friend Micki Grimland. Micki shared a blog by Richard Rohr, a well-known spiritual writer, on this subject. Richard’s article is so profound and insightful that I decided to share it with you as part of this week’s prayer.

Rohr writes: “We must receive all words of God tenderly and subtly so that we can speak them to others with tenderness and subtlety. I would even say that anything said with too much bravado, over assurance, or with any need to control or impress another, is never the voice of God within us. If any thought feels too harsh, shaming, or diminishing of ourselves or others, it is not likely the voice of God. Trust me on that. That is simply our egoic voice.

“Why do humans so often presume the exact opposite—that shaming voices are always from God, and grace voices are always the imagination?

“If something comes toward us with grace and can pass through us and toward others with grace, we can trust it as the voice of God.”

“One holy man who came to visit me recently put it this way, ‘We must listen to what is supporting us. We must listen to what is encouraging us. We must listen to what is urging us. We must listen to what is alive in us.’ I personally was so trained not to trust those voices that I think I often did not hear the voice of God speaking to me or what Abraham Lincoln called the ‘better angels of our nature.’ Yes, a narcissistic person can and will misuse such advice, but a genuine God lover will flourish inside such a dialogue.

“We must learn how to recognize the positive flow and to distinguish it from the negative resistance within ourselves. It can take years, if not a lifetime. If a voice comes from accusation and leads to accusation, it is quite simply the voice of the ‘Accuser,’ which is the literal meaning of the biblical word ‘Satan.’ Shaming, accusing, or blaming is simply not how God talks, but sadly, it is too often how we talk—to ourselves and to one another. God is supremely nonviolent, and I have learned that from the saints and mystics that I have read and met and heard about. That many holy people cannot be wrong.

“If we can trust and listen to our inner divine image, our whole-making instinct, or our True Self, we will act from our best, largest, kindest, most inclusive self. There is a deeper voice of God, which we must learn to hear and obey. It will sound like the voice of risk, of trust, of surrender, of soul, of common sense, of destiny, of love, of an intimate stranger, of your deepest self. It will always feel gratuitous, and it is this very freedom that scares us. God never leads by guilt or shame! God leads by loving the soul at ever-deeper levels, not by shaming at superficial levels.”

God has spoken in Scripture as to His voice.

John 10:27
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, as I struggle to be like You in my relationships with others may the ear of my heart listen to Your voice in my daily prayers.

God, may my words be Your words. May my voice be Your voice. May my loving words be Your love.

God, may my service to You impart Your love and grace to others. If all of us spoke and acted in relation to others as Your voice commands, the world would be healed and reconciled by love. Heaven would be nearer to the Earth. Amen

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Prayer for Native Americans and All Tribes of God – July 24, 2022

July 24, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

When I was a child, I played Cowboys and Indians with my brother, Charles, and my cousins, Howard and Bobby. On television, I watched every episode of the Lone Ranger and his Indian sidekick Tonto. My dad took me to the Houston Rodeo to see them as the headliner show stars. The Lone Ranger and Tonto embraced their ethnic diversity and shared a common goal—to do their part for good to triumph over evil.

When I was about 11 years old, my Aunt Carolyn married a Native American, my Uncle Bill. Bill was from Oklahoma. He had many siblings. He worked on a large family farm and ranch. He raised cattle. Harvested hay. Spent long hours digging post holes and building fences. I and my numerous would-be cowboy cousins rejoiced to have an honest-to-goodness Indian join our Emmott Family. Uncle Bill played the guitar and sang Western Oldies too. That was an added bonus.

As I studied history, I learned that our forefathers far from embraced Native Indians. Cherishing diversity was not a consideration. Our Native Americans were treated as uncivilized people, not worthy, not as cultured, and not sacred as all God’s children are. After all, they were made in the image of God like you and me. Would God ever treat His children as we treated them?

My grandmother, Jennie Julie Hewett Emmott, lived in New Orleans at a very young age. In 1898 when she was 6, her father, Percy Hewett, took her to see Geronimo who was held in prison at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Thousands of Americans traveled to see Geronimo. Geronimo, the great Apache warrior, was referred to as “The Heathen” in the advertisements to attract paying customers to make the arduous trip to Fort Sill. My grandmother said that her stagecoach ride was cold, bumpy, long, and miserable. After her dad paid the admission fee of 25 cents, she found herself in front of Geronimo’s prison cell. To describe the moment for me, my grandmother said, ”I stared directly into the eyes of Geronimo, The Heathen.”

As children of God, the Native Indian people, then and now, deserve better than they were treated. Today, there are still many Native Americans who live on reservations without running water or electricity. This prayer is not only about bringing attention to a great wrong. Also, it is about recognizing that to God we are all different. We are all the same. Native Americans have a great cultural heritage in song, dance, crafts, and so many other things which enrich our lives. So do other people from all over the world who live and work in America.

My English teacher in my 8th-grade class at Dean Jr was Mrs. Sauer. Mrs. Sauer had our class read an essay on America being a “Melting Pot.” She stressed that America’s greatness resulted from Native Americans and immigrants from other countries and from diverse races and nationalities merging into one American race. A “Melting Pot” in which we all can savor, cherish, love, and appreciate one another. Mrs. Sauer taught me that America’s strength and greatness lie in its diversity and inclusiveness. I believed that then. I believe that now despite the divisions in our land.

We cannot change history. But, as God’s faithful people, we can honor and serve God by honoring and embracing the sacredness, diversity, and beauty that dwell among America’s diverse people.
God has spoken to us in Scripture about the diversity and sacredness of His children.

Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 14:26
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

Revelation 14:6
Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.

Revelation 5:9-10
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, I thank You for the diversity of all people in America. My fellow Americans are not just Americans. They are Your children and my brothers and sisters.

God, when needed, please open my heart and eyes to see the divinity, talents, and worth in all people as Your love and spirit dwell in them.

God, please help me to do what I can to support others who are different from me. They may have every opportunity to live, grow, and love. The greatness of Your Kingdom on Earth is built upon the talents You have bestowed upon all Your people and me. We are Your tribe of many tribes. Your people, as one body of faith. In our diversity, there is the divine. The everlasting and eternal. There is 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 here to go to Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Jack-H-Emmott/e/B01BZFHSBW…
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 http://www.BendingAngel.com website.

Mothers Who Breast Feed and Those Who Do Not — July 16, 2022

July 16, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

You may be asking yourself why I or any man would write a prayer on this topic. Well, to me it is not a topic. It is not a taboo subject. It is an act of beauty. About a woman taking the time to give nourishment to her child as God nourishes us as His children.

Breastfeeding is about a mother setting aside a few moments each hurried day to be fully present with her child. To be as close as one could be with her infant child. To provide peace. Comfort. Security. Love each of us needs as we start our earthly pilgrimage. A child’s pilgrimage to grow on the road of faith is part of a deeper journey to be with God in heaven.

When my mother had my brother, Gary, in the morning and at bedtime, she often pulled up her rocking chair in my bedroom to breastfeed him. Gary received nourishment from her. As Mom cradled her baby, Gary, in her arms and as the rocker creaked on the oak wood floor, she sang hymns or popular songs of the day. Three years later my brother, Russell, was born. These simple, ordinary, and beautiful acts of giving of Mother were reenacted for him.

Gary and Russell are more than 60 years old now. But the passage of time has not washed away the memories of such beautiful, loving acts. Acts that Mom shared with me without embarrassment or concerns for privacy. What is inappropriate with siblings, children, and you or me witnessing such things?
When I was a young lawyer, I often saw mothers breastfeeding their children in public at the courthouse or in the jury assembly room. These mothers were not shamed by bailiffs or the judges. They were not asked to go somewhere else. They were doing what mothers did when their babies needed to be fed.
A few years ago, I attended a kids’ soccer game. A young mother sat next to me. During the game, her infant cried. Instinctively, the mother picked up her baby and began to breastfeed her child. I looked down momentarily at the mother and child. I saw the beauty of this mother and child. She did this so naturally and so unashamedly. Seeing them together, I was instantly transported back to the days my mom fed my two brothers.

On the sidelines of the soccer field, this beautiful moment between mother and child was interrupted by the father of one of the soccer players. The man, like me, saw the same young mother feeding her child. I heard him say loudly to another man at the practice, “Can you believe she would breastfeed her baby like that here? That is so inappropriate!” The young mother heard him and a few more of his choice and inconsiderate words. His words upset me and her. At that moment the mother stopped feeding her baby and hurriedly left the field. She did not return.

I was angry at the loud-mouthed, insensitive man. I felt bad for that sweet mom and her baby. I was upset that her loving, beautiful, natural act of breastfeeding her child was canceled by that man’s inconsiderate act.

Working moms can have the most difficulty finding time to breastfeed their children. When they cannot do so, they go to great lengths to use breast pumps to recover and provide milk to their babies when they cannot be physically present with them. A few years ago, I read a newspaper article about a professional woman and mother in New York City. Prior to coming to the office and dropping her baby at the nursery, she used the 1-hour drive time to work to hook herself up to a breast pump. She said that this was a real hassle. But doing it for her baby was worth it.

None of us should forget that there are those mothers who are not able to breastfeed their children or maybe they have no children of their own. At times they are filled with loss, regret or guilt. They all need prayers too.

God has spoken in Scripture about breastfeeding.

1 Peter 2:2

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.

Genesis 49:25

By the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, You made mankind, men and women, in Your image. I thank You for the beauty and wonder of creating women—women who are gifted with breasts to nourish Your children.

God, as You and Your love nourish me, may children be nourished by mothers’ milk and grow up to be Your good and gracious servants.

God, please bless women who breastfeed their children and those women who do not or cannot do so. Not every mother is able to breastfeed a child or may choose not to do so. In that case, please reassure those mothers that their love and Your love through them are shared in their every embrace, kiss, comforting act, and all the little things they do for them.

God, please support and strengthen all mothers who strive to breastfeed their children and in doing so successfully overcome the challenges of life and work. Amen

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Prayer for the Dash Between Birth and Death – July 10, 2022

July 10, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Photo credit: Paul Chepikian, Devoted Brother to Minas

Several weeks ago, my friend Minas died. For more than two decades this unique human, God-gifted to us, roamed the halls at Gray Reed. He touched each one of us in his own special way. Minas headed up the copy and supply room. He was a fixture to us like the cross on a steeple or a weathervane atop a farmhouse on the Texas prairie.

Minas sprinkled his dry humor and wit on each of us. His corny jokes. His pranks to some of us like putting a headshot of Lew Harpold (without permission) over the head of one of the famous portraits of Winston Churchill in Daryl Bailey’s office. That was done after the death of the Firm’s legendary Lew Harpold who had mentored Daryl as a young lawyer. The question was how long would it take for Daryl to notice that Lew’s likeness had taken the place of Churchill on his office wall. That was just one of many things Minas did to demonstrate that he cared. Minas knew a good laugh heals everyone, especially those who grieve and those who are sick.

In 2015 as I was in Methodist ICU for nine days with pneumonia, I received one of Minas’ creations. A very large poster signed by Gray Reed staff. On the poster, Minas had placed an Andy Warhol-sized can of Campbell’s Chicken Soup. You’ll never find one of those at Hallmark’s Cards and Gifts.

A celebration of Minas’ life was held the week the Firm moved into its new offices. Daryl’s homily for Minas inspired this week’s prayer. Daryl said that Frank Sinatra’s “I Did It My Way” was reflective of Minas’ uniqueness. That comment made me recall Minas telling me that as a young man in Cairo, Egypt he had watched Sinatra perform one evening under the background of the illumined Great Sphinx.

In Daryl’s homily, he spoke about the (-) dash between the birth and death dates of Minas’ life. Minas Chepikian, (Born August 7, 1950—Died June 25, 2022). As well as your dash (-) and my dash (-); the dash God gives all of His children.

Daryl said, “What we all have in common is that dash. The time from our birth until the time we leave this life. We may not all have the same amount of time IN our DASH but while we are here, we each have a dash. It is what we do DURING our DASH that makes a difference.”

Daryl continued with “Minas was a difference-maker in each of our individual lives.

“Minas was a difference-maker because he connected with everyone on an individual level that was important to each individual.

“He would discover in each of us some interest we had or expressed that was important. Then, Minas would talk to us and relate to us about those things. He would send us emails with articles about those topics. He might do something with his graphics background talent and give to us something related to those important topics, most often with a bit of humor.”

As Daryl said to me, “As all of us at Gray Reed moved into our beautiful new office space last weekend, Minas moved into his new space in the presence of God, a space that is more beautiful than we can imagine”. That is a sacred place for all souls like Minas who are difference makers and servants of God.

God has spoken to us in Scripture of making a difference in the lives of others.

1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Matthew 5:16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer I thank You for the life You have gifted me. Just as I am certain I was born, I am also certain that I will one day pass from the Earth.

God, I know the life You have given me is my Dash, the time between my date of birth and the date of my death. The DASH is my sacred opportunity to love and serve You and to make a difference in the lives of all Your children.

God, please guide and strengthen me to make the most of my Dash until the day I die and join You forever in Heaven and to love and serve You forever and ever. Amen

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Fourth of July Prayer – July 4, 2022

July 2, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

The yards in our Spring Valley Neighborhood are colored in red, white, and blue. These patriotic displays of American flags honoring our Nation’s independence are the product of Boy Scout Troup 478 sponsored by Spring Branch Presbyterian Church. I love my country and the patriotism exhibited by these Scouts.

For a donation of $40, Troup 478 will place the American Flag in our yards on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Veterans Day. I became a devoted American at an early age. Saying the Pledge at school each day. Giving the prayer over the classroom speakers each morning at Cy-Fair High School. I have always felt God’s presence as I watched the banner wave.

Years ago, I was the Chair of the Disabled Division of the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. I worked with the late Woodrow Seals, United States Federal Judge for the Southern District of Texas. The personal satisfaction of having a hand in making the buildings and facilities accessible to disabled Scouts in our area rose above the difficulty of attending on time the meetings with Judge Seals at the McDonald’s near Kirby Drive at 7:30 a.m. before work.

Amidst the anger, tensions, and divisions within our country today, there is something uplifting about our Nation’s Forefathers who joined together to accomplish the founding of our Great Democracy.

In the 1770s there were great differences of opinion, loyalties, and loss of lives in the quest to be free. Those differences were far less important than the collective will to be free. Today, in our disagreements may we all still be and remain One Nation under God.

Let us all raise our lips and lift our hearts in thanksgiving to God as we say the Pledge of Allegiance on July the Fourth and every day thereafter.

God has spoken in Scripture as to our true freedom.

2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

John 8:32
And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Let us pray together.

Almighty God – You gave all of us, Your children, the gift of Your love and the freedom to make our own decisions in our lives and in our walks of faith.

I thank You for our Forefathers, as Pilgrims of Faith, who gave me freedom and liberty under Your watch.

On this Fourth of July, I thank You for the blessing of living in the Land of Liberty.

Lord, please help me not forget that in my walk of faith in this nation under God I honor You and please You most when I treat my fellow citizens as I wish to be treated.

May our inner and outer conflicts be silenced by Your heavenly peace.
God, I give you my deepest thanks for my real freedom which came at the expense of Your own Son, Jesus. Because of Jesus, and His death and resurrection, I and those who believe in Him were freed of the bondage of sins. True freedom to the end of time, time which has no end in Your Kingdom. Amen

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Prayer for Father’s Day, June 19, 2022

June 18, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here for the video of Jack’s prayer.

Dad,

Here you are at age two.
Happy Father’s Day to you.
I am proud to bear your name.
To know the man that you became.
I inherited your faith in God above.
You gave me all your care and all your love.
You left me for your Father at age 96.
Gave me strength after polio when I was 6.
As I get older
This picture speaks to me.
For under my aging skin
There is a boy who once was two.
Who grew up to be a dad like you.
Thanks for the lessons
In fatherhood.
For showing me that
God is great.
That I was always good.
The child in you
Lives on in me
As you’re with your Heavenly Father in eternity.
Your Father is the same as mine.
May you be that child again
With the angels and the divine.
You were a great fisherman
With reel, line, and rod.
So blessed we are both
Thankful children of God.

Lord, on this special day I honor those who have carried the cross of fatherhood.

Lord, I give thanks to You for my father and for his example of stewardship for me to follow.

Lord, as my Heavenly Father, I give thanks to You for the gift of Your Son Jesus Christ. For in His birth, death, and resurrection we, as father and child, will always be together in Your Eternal Love and Light. Amen

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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.