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Prayer for Room in the Manger in My Heart – Christmas 2020

December 25, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To enjoy Jack’s video of this prayer, please click here.

Birth of Christ with Angels Berruguete

Last evening a strong cold front with blustery winds came to Texas. The shallow waters were blown out into the Gulf of Mexico leaving the canal empty behind my bay home. Even the Kingfishers, Seagulls, Brown Pelicans, and Great Herons appeared to hunker down just as I have for nine long months in the Pandemic.

This morning the clouds gave way to bright sunlight. Now the bay is sky blue. God and His Angels through Nature seem to herald that darkness is giving way to light and the birth of renewed hope.

On social media, I hear the earthly voices of our brothers and sisters crying for food. For healing human touch. For comfort. For the ability to let go of grieving for loved ones who have died. Voices pleading for what had been before the Coronavirus came to America.

As I exit Advent darkness, I recall my mom’s sweet and beautiful small ceramic hand-painted Nativity Scene. Mom died ten years ago. Even though I have no idea where it is now, I can vividly see little Baby Jesus in the manger. In the miniature manger, I still witness God’s gift of hope, love, and eternal life to me and you. I hear heavenly voices calling to me in the darkness. To step forward. To look up to the Light of Christ.

We know who was in the manger in the stable in Bethlehem. But what is in the manger of your heart because of that transformative, seemingly impossible Holy and Devine birth? In your walk of faith, how did that birth transform you? What did that birth create in the manger of your heart?

As God has said in Scripture,
1 John 4:9
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

God, as we leave Advent darkness please help us to make room in the manger of our hearts for the Light of Christ to dwell.

God, we have brothers and sisters in Christ who have little or no food or water or a stable for shelter. Please provide for them and comfort them.

God, out of the fruit of our labors may we generously give in Your Holy Name our time and money to Your less fortunate children who now have so much more of so much less.

God, please make room in the manger of our hearts to carry the love and light of Your blessed Son to others who are desperately in need of Holy hope, healing, and sustenance. Amen.

If you like this prayer, please share.

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

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

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: Bending Angel, Christmas prayer, Jack Emmott, Prayer for Room in the Manger in My Heart – Christmas 2020

Prayer to Hear the Christmas Bell Forever – December 20, 2020

December 19, 2020 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

To enjoy Jack’s video of this prayer, please click here.

In the Advent-like darkness of death, suffering, and separation from the Pandemic many of us are looking for hope? For healing? For the ending of a horrible disease that has deafened our senses? To see the light? To hear Holy Hope amidst the clatter of the struggles we and others are facing.

Sometimes we are drawn to beacons of light-filled hope when things are the darkest. We see the stars in the heavens when the skies are the darkest. Don’t we? Inexplicably, we find ourselves drawn closer to God the farther away we feel He is from us.

In the darkness of Covid 19, we have lost so much. I did with polio. We have also gained a lot in the Pandemic as I did from polio. With God’s help in the dark times and living a life with my disabilities I have been able to more clearly see, hear, touch, and feel joy, light, hope, and most importantly, love.

How many of you, like me, had unbridled anticipation and wonder as a child waiting for Santa to arrive and leave presents under the Christmas Tree?

How many of you, like me, found joy in singing Christmas carols at church or going door to door in your neighborhood to share the gift of God’s peace and joy in song during the holidays?

How many of you, like me, felt that you were safely held in the arms of God when you attended Christmas Eve or Christmas Day church services? In addition to the birth of Christ, child-like mystery and wonder had a secure place in the manger of my heart. Yours too, I imagine.

Thanks to the Grace of God and the talents of scientists around the world, hope is at hand. Amazingly, in less than a year, we have multiple vaccines against Covid 19 being administered.

On December 21st, another source of light, the Great Conjunction, will occur when Jupiter and Saturn align in the night sky for the first time in nearly 400 years. Will we be witnessing the Christmas Star? The one the Three Wise Men saw more than 2000 years ago to guide them to the stable in which God’s Eternal Life and Hope for us was born? Or possibly the Great Conjunction may be the intersection of astronomic reality and our faith in God?

Another source of light for me and millions of others is the movie, Polar Express. At the end of the movie the Hero Boy who had become an older man said, “….at one time, most of my friends could hear the bell. But as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found, one Christmas, that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I have grown old, the bell still rings for me. As it does for all who truly believe.”

Many of you have young children and grandchildren who still hear the Christmas Bell. During the Pandemic, many of you may have either lost or have greater difficulty hearing the sounds of joy and wonder. In seeing light. In believing in wonder, mystery, and hope.

With prayer, love, and aging I can still hear the Christmas Bell. As I witness millions of men and women across America and the world receive Covid-19 vaccinations. As I look up at the Great Conjunction on December 21st. As I think about the Hero Boy who never outgrew the ability to hear the Bell, I reflect on God’s Words.

Isaiah 40:31
….. but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God, in prayer, please help us know that in times of darkness and light we are always safely held in Your Loving Arms.

God, in prayer, please safeguard our ability to hear the voices of Your angels and the ringing of Christmas bells in our hearts.

God, on Christmas Day may we hear Your proclamation that in You and Your Son, Jesus Christ, peace, love, wonder, hope, and life never die. 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 www.BendingAngel.com website.

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: 2020, Bending Angel, Christmas prayer, Jack Emmott, Prayer to Hear the Christmas Bell Forever - December 20

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 Room in the Manger of My Heart for Forgiveness – December 22, 2017

December 22, 2017 by Jack Emmott 1 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.

 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 BendingAngel.com.

 

 

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: Bending Angels, Christmas prayer, Jack Emmott, prayer for forgiveness

Prayer for Room in the Manger in My Heart – Christmas 2016

December 24, 2016 by Jack Emmott 8 Comments

Heavenly Father, as I pray in Advent darkness please help me make room in the manger of my heart for the light of Christ to soon dwell. I have brothers and sisters in Christ who have little or no food to eat or water to drink or a stable for comfort or shelter.  Out of the fruit of my labors may I generously give in Your Holy Name my time and  money to Your less fortunate children who have so much more of so much less. As Mary borne baby Jesus, the King of Kings, please make room in the manger of my heart for me to carry the love and light of Your blessed Son to others so in need of Holy hope, healing and sustenance.

Amen.

Jack H. Emmott is a Member of Gray, Reed & McGraw, Houston, Texas and a Board Certified family law divorce and child custody attorney, mediator, author, entrepreneur and inspirational speaker.

Filed Under: Weekly Prayers Tagged With: Christmas prayer

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...

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