Bending Angel

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Home
  • About
    • About Jack H. Emmott
    • About Bending Angel Publications
    • About Emmottville
  • BookShop
    • Schorre Christmas Cards
    • Bending Angels
    • Prayerful Passages
    • Prayerful Passages Companion Guide Book
    • Note Cards
  • In The News
  • Weekly Prayer
  • Contact

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

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.

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: Bending Angels, Jack Emmott, living outside comfort zone, Sound of Music

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.

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.



Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: Beauty and Love - December 29, Bending Angels, Jack Emmott, New Year's prayer, Prayer for a New Year of Peace

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

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.

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: Bending Angels, Christmas prayer, Jack Emmott, Prayer for Forgiveness at Christmas, Prayer for Room in the Manger of My Heart for Forgiveness

Prayer for Prairie Fires of the Holy Spirit – December 15, 2019

December 15, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – During Advent Darkness while I wait for Your light and love to be born in Bethlehem, I reflect upon my ashes, the embers of the things within me which are not worthy of Your Kingdom. Some of those things have been torched to some extent in prayer by Your Holy Spirit. Like, my pride. My vanity. My self-importance. Not being accepting of others who are different than me or not treating my neighbors in the way I want to be treated by them. Much more work by me needs to be done.

©NPR.org

However, the fire of the Your Holy Spirit has caused the better parts of me to shine, to reflect more of You and Your love on others. Like compassion. Forgiveness. Trust and faith in You. Valuing others more than my possessions. Thankfulness for Your blessings.

In an inspirational sermon delivered by Stuart Bates, Rector of St. Francis Episcopal Church Houston, on the second week of Advent, Stuart said that God wants all His children to be worthy of His Kingdom. That each of us needs to be mindful of the qualities which make us worthy to be admitted to Heaven and those qualities that have no place in Heaven like greed, hate, pride and lust.

God, I pray that each of us consider the metaphor told by Stuart of the prairie fire which consumes that which is no longer useful to the Earth. But, afterword, the ground is purified. It has received food for new life. Then comes the green from the Earth. The shiny and shimmering leaves. The newness like that of an innocent child You bring to our world.

God, in prayer please light within us prairie fires of the Holy Spirit, to purify ourselves, to make us more worthy to enter the Gates of Heaven and to remove from each of us the chafe of our human imperfections so that we can see, know and reflect You and Your perfect Spirit on Earth. 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.

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: 2019, Advent prayer, Bending Angels, Jack Emmott, Prayer for Prairie Fires of the Holy Spirit - December 15, St Francis Episcopal Church Houston, Stuart Bates

A Child’s Thanksgiving Prayer – November 28, 2019

November 29, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

I owe my first and deepest gratitude and giving of thanks to God because of my Mother and Dad. When I was thirty-something, young and married with kids, I penned this poem to God in awe of them.  Sadly, today, Mom and Dad will not be sitting in the physical at the Emmott Family Thanksgiving Table. Instead, they will be seated at the Lord’s Table feasting on the Light and Love of God.

Happy Thanksgiving, Mom and Dad.  Enjoy the Love, Peace and Joy you gave me.

A Child’s Thanksgiving
Lord,
Today is Thanksgiving Day,
At least for another forty-five minutes,
As it is now eleven fifteen at night.
Even though thanks giving is the theme of this day
I have yet to say enough thanks
For the life you have given me.

Thanks for life,
Life so precious, so rare,
Life of mine which might have ended
So long ago in my childhood years,
Years filled with respirators, syringes,
Bedpans, creamagal, prayers, oxygen
Tents, braces, casts, and hospital
Rooms.

Thanks for Mom and Dad.
For all their love, patience, and care,
For just being there
When I so much needed them.
For the untold sacrifices they made,
Which I could never hope to repay.
For devoting their younger years
So that I might live more of my own.
For instilling in me
A happy outlook on life,
Despite physical limitations,
Which chained me down,
Which prevented me
From doing what others did.
For giving me the courage
To endure the painful years
And those unhappy tears.
But most of all,
Thanks for their love,
Love which gave me comfort.
Knowing that whatever I was or was not,
I was always accepted
And had the potential to become a bigger “me”,
Because of what we had been through.

For giving me gifts,
Gifts which have kept on giving
Year after year.
The gift of warmth,
Of being held in their arms as a child,
Totally dependent on their nurture for survival.
The gift of being held in my mother’s arms,
Clutched near her breasts.
Of being lulled to sleep in the music
Of her heart beats,
Of her song
And of the rocker squeaking on the oak wood floor.
For giving me a greater vision
Of this world and other worlds.
For allowing me to believe in
Fairytales,
Santa Claus,
Rudolf,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
Jack and the Beanstalk,
The Sand Man,
The Tooth Fairy,
Superman and
The Savior.
For the gifts
Of toys
Of cowboy boots,
Of water pistols,
Of cowboy outfits
Of my first Roy Rogers lunch kit,
Of toys brought back from Mexico,
Of hidden treasures,
Of Playland Park,
Of malted milks,
Of donuts,
Of not making me quit taking
Those shiny half dollars,
From Mr. Logan at Ed Snapp’s therapy clinic.
Of fishing trips,
Of bedtime outings,
Of the best medical care,
And of too many gifts
To write down all of them.

Thanks for keeping them here
For as long as you have
So that I could come to know them better
And love them better also.
The same is just as true for Grandmother and PawPaw.

Thanks for Dorothy, John and Catherine.

Thanks for giving me
The happiest and most joyous moments
I am now experiencing.
Thanks for the community
We have shared.
And for my partaking of a communion
With each breath of air,
And with each drop of rain.

Lord,
Thanks most of all
For answering my prayers.

Love,
Bubba

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.

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: Bending Angels, Child's Thanksgiving Prayer, Emmott family, Jack Emmott, Prayer for Mom and Dad

Prayers for Trials to Become Transformations – November 17, 2019

November 24, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – The life You have gifted me and others comes with many transitions, changes, and trials which test our faith in You and yet hold the promise of our transformation.

Sometimes change comes slowly.  We face an illness, cancer, or other chronic disease.

Sometimes change comes unexpectedly or suddenly. Wives lose husbands. Husbands lose wives. Parents lose children. Or in falling from the sky in Vietnam.

As a Freshman I attended Houston Baptist College (now University). I met a very charismatic man who was studying to become a minister. I asked him, “When did you decide to become a minister?”   He replied, “When I was in Vietnam I was a paratrooper. On one mission over the Mekong Delta I jumped out of the airplane. My parachute did not open.  I prayed to God to please let me live. I told God that if I survived the fall I would become His minister.  I landed in a rice field. I broke most of the bones in my body. But, I survived.”

Whether we decide to make a change in our lives which leads us to a trial for transformation or whether change is forced upon us, we have a choice to use those changes to grow in spirit. To walk as Your living angels on the Earth.

God, this day please help all Your children to use changes, transitions, and trials as Your invitations to step into Your grace. To be empowered by You.  To be transformed by You to be Your light. To be Your love on this blessed Earth. 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.

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: Bending Angels, Jack Emmott, Prayers for Trials to Become Transformations, trials test our faith

Prayer in Memory of President Kennedy and for the Protection of Leaders from Harm – November 22, 2019

November 24, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – Two years ago I gave thanks for President Trump’s release of the Kennedy assassination papers which had long been sealed from public view. Like many others, I never believed the death of this President was the act of one deranged man, Lee Harvey Oswald. That fact was confirmed in one of the released documents. This record stated that, before the assassination, Jack Ruby asked an FBI informant if he wanted to see the fireworks in Dallas as President Kennedy’s motorcade was to proceed in front of the Book Depository. It is clear to me that Ruby did not kill Oswald because he had shot Ruby’s beloved President. It was rather done to silence Oswald forever–who had referred to himself as a patsy.

As we sadly recall the 56th anniversary of this dreaded day in Dallas when the heart of an American President stopped beating and the hope he represented to the world was stilled, I pray that one day the truth will be fully revealed.  I pray that we will have the courage to know and face the depth and breadth of what actually transpired.

Dear Lord, may Your love overcome the hatred which claimed our President. May You cause to be revealed the secrets which have been hidden from us for far too long.

In our current President’s release of the remaining papers and the previously unspoken words from the lips of the few remaining, living assassination witnesses, may we honor President John F. Kennedy and hold up his legacy of leadership to the light of eternal truth. 

May Your Archangel Michael watch over and protect America’s leaders from harm. No bullet is more powerful than Your love on Earth or 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.

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: Bending Angels, Jack Emmott, Lee Harvey Oswald, prayer to protect America's leaders, President Kennedy assassination

Prayer for Heroes Not Forgotten – November 11, 2019.

November 11, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – Last Thursday would’ve been Gordon’s 75th birthday. In honor of him I dedicate this prayer to You for him and all soldiers who served with honor in times of peace and times of war to preserve the peace we all hold dear.

God, please guide all leaders in Congress and in the Executive Branch to provide the medical care needed by those who have sacrificed so much and yet returned home to America’s shores with dismemberment, PTSD and much less good health.

Please spare our Veterans the war they have had to fight to win the benefits, care, and recognition which should have been simply provided to them in gratitude for their selfless service.

God, please shine your light and love on all heroes not forgotten on Earth or in Heaven including my brother in law, Gordon.

In Gordon’s memory and as my 75th birthday present to him I repost my poem of June 3, 2017 following his death.

May he and all other heroes be not forgotten.  Amen

A Decorated Vietnam Soldier Died Today, June 3, 2017 –

If you like this prayer, please share.

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: Bending Angels, Carl Gordon Lansford. Prayer for Heroes Not Forgotten, Jack Emmott, Prayer for the VA, Veterans Day Prayer

Prayer to Bear the Price of Love….Grief–November 3, 2019

November 3, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – Recently, three exceptional humans in Houston, Rusty Howard, Will Cannon, and John Fedorko, died.  Rusty’s Barbara, Will’s Jane and John’s Jana and their family and friends are grieving.  They have hearts in need of our prayers and Your healing.

Just yesterday, I learned that a longtime friend and unnamed World War II hero and one of America’s last living Ace’s is in hospice care.  Preparing to make his final flight on the wings of angels to Heaven.  To salute You, the God he served.  The God who gave him the Land and Country he dearly loved.

The inspirational quote posted here has an unknown author.  But, the children You have gifted with loving hearts know what it means to grieve.

Grieving is not confined to the death of those we have loved or who loved us.  Grief is born in the separation from a close friend.  Divorce.  The loss of a job.  The death of a dream.  Bankruptcy. The onset of cancer or other illness.  Although the sources of grief are many, You are the One True God.  The source of life over death.  Holy light over the darkness of grief.  The beacon of hope to those who struggle in the dark to navigate the process of grief.

God, in prayer, please assure all who grieve that grieving does change; but that Your love for them never does.

God, in prayer, please give peace to those who grieve.  That their loved ones dwell with You. That life and the living of it do not end with death.  Yet, in You, the ending is a new beginning for their departed in Heaven.  A blessed opportunity to grow in their faith in You and Your plans for them on Earth.

Jesus died.

Yet He lives.

We live and love.

So we can die in You.

In dying we live eternal life.

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.

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: 2019, Bending Angels, grief prayer, John Fedorko, Prayer to Bear the Price of Love….Grief-----November 3, Rusty Howard, Will Cannon

Prayer for Wives Looking for Something in Red – October 27, 2019

October 27, 2019 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

God – Today, as I listened to Looking for Something in Red by Lorrie Morgan I heard the angelic voice of a gifted female singer.  Though very blessed by You with amazing vocal talents, Lorrie has had her share of broken marriages and the unexpected, early, and tragic loss of her singer-husband, Keith Whitley.

What resonates in this song is the longing of wives throughout the stages and ages of marriage to be loved, to be the heart’s desire of their husbands, and to have intimacy and passion in their marriages.

Lorrie, like every wife, is looking to wear something in red to turn her man’s head and to feel that same romantic feeling, child after child, year after year and no matter what.

God, in prayer please help every husband to see his wife as dressed in red, as beautiful and as lovely as when she wore white on their wedding day.

May husbands keep love alive in doing special things for their wives on ordinary days and not just birthdays and anniversaries.

May husbands do ordinary things for their wives which make days special….a kiss, a warm embrace, a compliment and sometimes just listen to them, really listen.

May husbands know that intimacy and passion are important to their wives and marriage and that foreplay starts at sunrise and ends when the lights go out. 

Please help all wives to keep looking for love and for something in red.

God, please help all married couples preserve the passion they had for each other on their wedding day and to share their love for You and each other in every 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.

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.

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: Bending Angels, Jack Emmott, Keith Whitley, longing of wives, Lorrie Morgan, Prayer for Wives Looking for Something in Red - October 27, preserve the passion

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 9
  • Next Page »

Notice: genesis_footer_creds_text is deprecated since version 3.1.0! Use genesis_pre_get_option_footer_text instead. This filter is no longer supported. You can now modify your footer text using the Theme Settings. in /home/jhemmott/public_html/bendingangel.com/wp-includes/functions.php on line 4928

About Jack H. Emmott

Jack H. Emmott

I am a polio survivor. The fact that I suffered paralysis at the age of six is, in some ways, unimportant. Bad things happen to everyone. Viewed differently...

Read more...

Weekly Prayer

Prayer in Thanksgiving for the Life of Mary Ann Maxwell – February 21, 2021

  • Read more...
  • Receive a weekly prayer via email
©2021 Bending Angel · Developed by Hero House Creative

Receive a Weekly Prayer Via Email
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.