Bending Angel

Prayer for COVID 19 Lessons Learned from my Iron Lung – May 17, 2020

May 17, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To see Jack read this prayer, please click here.

This is the picture of the kind of iron lung I was in each day for four years. Thankfully, my journey in the iron lung ended in 1992. My iron lung rolled out the front door of my family home in Emmottville nearly 30 years ago. But, the iron lung and my journey in it left behind lessons in the darkness which changed my life forever. As God has said in Isaiah 45:3, I will give you hidden treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, who calls you by your name.

I hope these lessons from my iron lung will help you at this time.

Lesson 1 – We can overcome fear and uncertainty by trusting in God – When Dr. Vallbona placed me in the iron lung in 1988 at TIRR, I was overcome with fear. I felt that if I got in the iron lung I would never get out. Likewise, there is a great deal of uncertainty and fear in the Pandemic. Will it ever end? What will it do to me, my family, my job, my relationships with friends, and my ability to pay the bills or keep my business going? In the midst of this COVID 19 mess you can pray to God, as I did every dark day in the iron lung, and ask that God be with you. We are all on a greater and more important journey in life with God. God has special plans for you which are far above what is going on in the depths of the Pandemic.

Lesson 2 – When carrying the burden is too much for you to bear, you can ask God to carry the load you cannot bear alone – When I could not breathe for myself, the iron lung breathed for me. Likewise, God’s strength supplanted my weakness until I could exit the iron lung. During this Pandemic, when you feel vulnerable and weak, you can pray to God to receive strength, the newness of life, and the zest for living

Lesson 3 – When looking for hope in the Pandemic, all you need to do is turn to God in prayer and you will find hope – Every day I searched for the light at the end of the metal tunnel I was in for 4 years. In this Pandemic wherever you are you can turn your eyes in prayer to see God’s face. Just like a sunflower instinctively turns to face the sun to receive what it needs to thrive and survive, in facing or turning to God in prayer, you will receive the hope you need. The things to live for. To look forward to.

Lesson 4 – Do not fight what is required to succeed in the Pandemic. Be flexible – With God’s help, I learned that I could not fight the process of my recovery in the iron lung. I had to yield to the process. If I fought the iron lung, I would be a part of the problem and not part of the solution to recovery. Choose to be the best part of the process of handling the Pandemic. In prayerfully submitting to my iron lung, the iron lung became an unexpected place of worship. My sanctuary. Its breath became my breath. Its skin became my skin. The iron lung had no purpose in life without me. I could not fulfill my purpose without it. Moving through the Pandemic is a process too. Rigidity and resistance only make things worse. With flexibility during the Pandemic, you will be much better on the other side of it, but only if you submit to and agree to do what is required to make the most of it.

Lesson 5 – The Pandemic can be a teacher and an invitation to learn important lessons – In the iron lung, I asked God to show me things I could take with me when I got out of it. God answered my prayers. During the Pandemic, you can each learn lessons in this dark time. Happiness and success may be measured by what you gain in the Pandemic and not by what you’ve lost. For me, I am the best me I’ve ever been. My full-time calling as a Collaborative Divorce and family law attorney has never been more rewarding, productive, and helpful to others. That is because of the lessons I learned during my time in the iron lung.

God, please help each of us, the world, our nation, and the communities in which we live emerge from the Pandemic as better reflections of Your love on Earth.

God, please help us to find the treasures You promised were hidden in dark times. Treasures that deepen our relationship with one another. Lessons that bring us ever closer to You. Lessons to exit the Pandemic with which enable us to serve You better. To be more able to love others more deeply and live life more richly than ever before.

God, time like mine in an iron lung or our time today in facing the Pandemic is too important in Your kingdom to waste. May we not fail to find the riches within us You promised were waiting there for us. Amen

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

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

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

April 18, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To hear Jack read his prayer, please click here.

God – Because of the Coronavirus Pandemic 1.5 billion children and 60 million teachers around the globe are not in schools. In America 30 million public school students are now in need of learning at home. Their parents who need to be earning a living outside the home are now learning to teach their children inside the home. Even if children have a parent who is a public school teacher, teaching at home is so very different and more challenging than in the classroom.

Polio became my stay-at-home order which required me to be home schooled from ages 7-11. Dorothy Carlton, a Pioneer in homebound teaching, was brought into my home by the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District to be my teacher. Mrs. Carlton’s visits to my home for those 5 years taught me many lessons in learning to share with others today.

First, Mrs. Carlton and my mother brought a desk from school to my home. The screened in porch became my classroom. But, at least I had a desk like all the other students had in public school. The important thing was not that I had the normal school desk. The important thing was that Mrs. Carlton and my mother made me a room or place in my home which was suitable for learning. This was the place in which to learn. It was safe. It was quiet. It was mine. So, God, please help all parents to find suitable places in their homes for their children to learn.

Second, Mrs. Carlton, put in place for me a daily and weekly schedule to be with her. When I was not with her, it was my responsibility to get my homework done. Her responsibility was to teach. My responsibility was to learn. Over time my mind, spirit, and body became in sync with this structured routine. Though difficult at first, over time it became more natural. My nature was to become a better student each day. So, God, please help all parents establish a consistent daily schedule for learning, including a time for play.

Third, although Mrs. Carlton had a clearly defined in-home classroom schedule, each day she made allowances for my personal and mental health. Like their parents, kids have good days and bad days as well. So, God, please help parents in their homes to have a set schedule. But, help parents to remember that having a set schedule is not as important as having, building, and maintaining a good relationship with their children. Please help them discern when flexibility is needed and how to avoid the kind of words and rigidity which cause harm. To their children’s hearts. To their children’s minds. To their children’s desperate need to have a loving relationship with their parents.

Fourth, God, every child is a precious gift from You. In every child there are treasures and talents to be found, nurtured, and developed. No parent or teacher should diminish the beautiful and sacred gifts within the children You have bestowed in them. I am reminded of Anita Wheatcroft, wife of the Episcopal priest, the Rev. Richard Wheatcroft of St. Francis Episcopal Church Houston. One of the gifts You gave her was creative writing. In that gift she was born left-handed in nature. During that time in history being left-handed was scorned and squelched when possible by parents and teachers. In her childhood Anita’s nanny was instructed to tie Anita’s left-hand behind her back forcing her to use her right hand all day. Anita overcame all of that as an adult and became a successful author of children’s books. Not every child is able to overcome the stronghold a parent or teacher can place on the flowering of a child’s inner gifts and talents. So, God, please help parents nurture their children’s nature and natural talents.

Fifth, in 2020, it seems like a poor reward for a teacher to give to a student. But, I cannot tell You, God, what it meant to me when Mrs. Carlton gave me those sticky Gold Stars to reward my achievements, even the small ones. Each time she placed a Gold Star on a satisfactory homework or test page, it said to me, “You are a good boy.” So, God please help parents to show their appreciation to their children when they succeed in tasks well done.

Sixth, my teacher, Mrs. Carlton, loved to teach. So I, as her student, loved to learn. Students, including children at home, do not learn from people they do not like, including their parents. So, God, so please help all parents display joy, zest, and love for learning to their children.

Seventh, God please help parents learn and practice patience in the teaching of their children. Please help parents who teach to schedule their own times for rest and relaxation. All work and no play is not good for children or for their parents.

Eighth, God, thankfully in parents educating their children at home, there is no separation of Church and State. That is because at home, the state of their relationship with You is most important and always worthy of celebration and observation. So, God, please encourage all parents who teach their children at home to schedule daily prayer and Scripture reading to be with You.

God, You are the best teacher for all Your children. May all parents lead, learn, and love by Your amazing Grace and perfect example. Please guide all parents in teaching and learning to love at home. In that way their children will learn to love and serve You. Amen.

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Prayer for Good and Godly Things to Come from the Bad – The Polio Epidemic and the Coronavirus Pandemic – March 15, 2020

March 15, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God — I am much older now. But, within me is the six-year old boy, pictured here, who contracted polio, went to the hospital and was quarantined in a hospital instead of going to first grade.

Then, like now with the Coronavirus Pandemic, there was no vaccine. Hospitals were overloaded with patients and unable to meet the demands for respirators and iron lungs. Water was tested in many homes. There was uncertainty as to how polio was transmitted. Pools were closed. Children were required to take long naps each afternoon. Children were not allowed to play together. And, if a child or adult contracted polio, some cases were mild and others ranged from death, to being in an iron lung forever, to being crippled, or in braces or being wheelchair bound for the rest of their lives.

God, today I thank You for the lessons we learned from over 300,000 American men, women and children getting polio and millions more around the globe who fell victim to or died from polio.

God, You are all about hope and transforming bad things into good and Godly things.

God, with polio, You taught us lessons to deal with this pandemic. Please help us to:

Pray for the cure to come;

Pray for us to provide for our families while remembering to care for and share with others in need;

Pray not to hoard essential goods but to take only what we need so that others in need can have their pantry shelves full;

Pray that those who are prevented from wrongfully price gouging others turn their acts of greed into acts of charity; for example the men who are stuck with 14,000 bottles of hand sanitizer can gift them to a charity to distribute to those who need them;

Pray for us to provide meals to children who no longer are in schools, as the school meals are often the only daily nourishment received by many of them;

Pray for us to call, Skype, FaceTime, send a card or letter to those who are shut in or separated from their family and friends, especially the elderly and those who have underlying health conditions.

God, I thank You that because of Your love in their leaders, corporate America is doing its part by letting corporate profits take a back seat in order to be compassionate to others. Many companies are paying workers who are not working. Companies are enabling workers to work remotely. And Apple allowing those who use the Apple Card to skip their March 2020 payments without accruing interest and without any adverse reporting to credit agencies.

God, I pray that You will help all of us throughout the world to be our best selves at the worst time in decades.

God, although we do not have all the answers, we always have You.

Right now, adequate supplies, a cure, and an effective treatment may be lacking, but there is always an abundance of Your presence and love for us. Amen

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Prayer to Live in the Now – March 8, 2020

March 8, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Heavenly God, You, the Holy One, Who gifted life to me as Your blessing, I beseech Thee to help me fully and wholly live in the Now. Now is all I have today. Please help me not to live in the past. In prayer I have learned that carrying anger, resentment and lack of forgiveness of the past into the present only robs me of finding love, gratefulness, wonder and awe today. I know that my thinking that true happiness will be gained in the acquisition of future possessions, rewards and success prevents me from fully living and deeply loving others today. In prayer may I hear in Your gift to me of the Now, the heartbeat of Your love for me. May I feel the flutter of angels’ wings around me. May I take in with each and every breath the air filled with Your love for me. Amen

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This prayer was inspired by Brother Curtis Almquist, an Episcopal monk from Emery House, a retreat facility on 140 acres in West Newbury, Massachusetts. Brother Curtis helps others to find the sacred in the ordinary and experience the extraordinary gift of life in the present through prayer and silence. Thank you, Brother Curtis.

Prayer in Thanksgiving for Hope from God and in Nature – March 1, 2020

March 3, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – On the corner of my street for over fifty years there lived a man who spent his life repairing electric wheelchairs.

Now, this man, who kept wheelchair bound persons on the move to navigate in their homes, places of work and worship, no longer is in his home. The home has been vacant for more than a year.

But, in the man’s yard this week his white plum tree was in magnificent bloom.

I have enjoyed this blossoming tree for the last twelve years. In those twelve years people I loved have died. Our flood ridden home in Emmottville has been demolished. A few beloved pets have joined Your Kingdom of heavenly creatures great and small.

The plum tree and the blossoms of Spring echoed to me that life goes on, that You and the Nature You have given us hold a Holy promise. That with every ending there is a new beginning. There is promise and hope You have for each of us. That although the seasons of life change, Your love for us never does.

We often believe that life and the living of it starts at birth. But, as we move through Lent, and stand at the Cross on Good Friday, and witness the Crucifixion of Your Son, Jesus, we learn that eternal life for us was born out of Your sacrifice and a precious death.

God, we thank You for Your love, for the hope of Spring, for the new spiritual growth and transformation which come from endings in our lives. For Your love and plans for us are around us in Nature. In the white blossoming plum tree at the end of my street. In this tree the man planted for us to see and reflect on in our walks of faith. Amen

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Prayer for a Cure, for Healing, and Less Fear of the Coronavirus – February 2, 2020

February 2, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – Across the face of the Earth, especially in China, the only thing spreading faster than fear is the Coronavirus. Reports today say that the number of persons who get infected with this deadly disease doubles every six days.

Millions are quarantined in homes and hospitals. International travel has been suspended by airlines. Even Apple has closed every store in China. Healthcare facilities and workers are exhausted. None of us know the number who will die, or the toll of economic loss which will be suffered by people, retirees who depend on savings to live, on countries and the world as a whole.

God, with the gifts You gave mankind, the polio epidemics in the mid-1950’s came to an end. The polio vaccine guaranteed to those who took it that they would never be paralyzed, placed in an Iron Lung, or quarantined from their families like me. The fear that went with polio and which spread like a West Texas wildfire in the hot winds of summer was extinguished with a few drops of medicine on a sugar cube.

God – Please illumine those who seek to find a cure for the Coronavirus.

God – Please heal those who directly and indirectly bear the hardship of the Coronavirus and lift them up and strengthen them in time of desperate need.

God – In prayer may every person know that You did not bring on Your creation a disease with which to harm or kill Your children. That You have not abandoned Your children but are ever present when Your presence is most needed. May Your love reassure us and lessen our fears in faith that You have plans for us which surely survive whatever challenges we face with the Coronavirus. Amen

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Prayer to Do Special Things on Ordinary Days – January 12, 2020

January 13, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God, recently on an ordinary day I returned home from work. Nothing remarkable had happened that day until I rolled past our plumeria on the way to my front door. On this ordinary day the plumeria gifted me with an extraordinary blossom of white petals with yellow centers.

Something flowered in me as I looked at the blossom. It was the vivid memory of my dear friend, Ivan Butterfield. More than thirty years ago on an ordinary day in Emmottville Ivan showed up unexpectedly to give me and my wife that plumeria for the yard of what I thought would be our forever home along White Oak Bayou.

Sadly, due to three floods in five years, our forever home is no more. But, when we left our home we took with us the same plumeria and along with it the memory of what Ivan did for and said to me that day.

As I thanked Ivan for the gift of the plumeria, Ivan said, “One is always expected to do special things on special occasions. But, what shows your deep love for others is doing something special for them on ordinary days.”

God, I thank You for Ivan, the plumeria, and the extraordinary lesson I learned from him and have sought to follow for more than thirty years.

God, I thank You for always being present for us on all of our ordinary days. Likewise, it is just and right that we follow Your example to do special things on ordinary days for those we love. For when we do so, we become the flowering of Your glory and grace on Earth.

God, my forever home in Emmottville and my friend, Ivan, are no more in the physical. Yet, the gift and lesson I learned from Ivan on an ordinary day lives on.

God, in our daily prayers please help us find ways to magnify Your love on the Earth by doing special things for others on ordinary days. Amen

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Prayer to Leave the Walls of the Abbey and Our Comfort Zones – January 5, 2020

January 7, 2020 by Jack Emmott 1 Comment

God – Last weekend I watched the classic, magical musical, The Sound of Music, with Julie Andrews playing the postulant, Maria, and Christopher Plummer, playing Captain Von Trapp, in the beautiful setting of Austria. There was the scene of Maria meeting with the Mother Superior after Maria had left the Von Trapp family and she not wanting to face the fact that there might be love between her and the Captain. Rather than facing the possibility of love and marriage, Maria asked Mother Superior if she could immediately take her vows to become a nun.

Rather than saying “yes”, Mother Superior replied, “The Abbey is not to be used as a place to escape. These walls were not built to shut out your problems. You must face them.”

Lord, how many of us want to stay in our comfort zones as if we were in the walls and safety of an Abbey? Rather than face uncomfortable surroundings or difficult people, we stay at home, work longer at the office or refuse to change our ways.

Lord, how many of us build walls which are much more formidable than the walls of any Abbey? Those walls keep us from dealing with problems in our families, with our friends and in our relationships with others. Loving relationships are harmed or stifled altogether by our walls of anger, resentment, lack of forgiveness, absence of compassion or inability to understand the needs of others.

Lord, please help us to leave the walls of the Abbey within ourselves and our comfort zones and step out as we are called by You to love others. Watching The Sound of Music leaves our hearts and souls dancing. We are left with the prospect that, even in the dark times of a World War, there was hope. There was love and laughter to be found. There was the light of joyful song in dealing with human struggles and difficult relationships.

Lord, with faith in You we are assured that in every problem we face that You have provided a solution for us. In prayer help us find those solutions, take down those walls which separate us from others and in doing so find You and Your love for us. Amen

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Prayer for a New Year of Peace, Beauty and Love – December 29, 2019

December 29, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – As I begin a New Year please help me find renewed peace, beauty and love within me. At the moment of my creation You ensouled my body with a perfect spirit. In prayer please help me reconnect with that Holy Spirit. May the last day of this year be the ending of disquietude, drama, self-consciousness and not loving myself as You do. For me to find peace in the world, I must first know and contemplate Your heavenly peace through prayer and worship. For me to see the beauty in others, I must not be blind to the beauty You created in me and all Your children. For me to know and share Your love with others, I must fully embrace the faith that the love of Your Son, Jesus, dwells in me and all Your creation. Amen.

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Prayer for Room in the Manger of My Heart for Forgiveness – December 22, 2019

December 22, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – As I wait in Advent darkness for Your Son Jesus to be placed in the manger, the manger which held forgiveness and eternal life for me and all Your children, please help me forgive myself and others for wrongs which have been committed. Not letting go of resentments separates me from You and Your peace.

In Your mercy, please help me find room in the manger of my heart for forgiveness. In forgiveness Your light and love will shine in me just as it lit the sky above the stable in Bethlehem. Amen

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