Bending Angel

Prayer in Thanksgiving for the Promise of Spring – March 20, 2022

March 20, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Last Sunday, as I drove out of Spring Valley Village to celebrate our family Spring Break at Camp PawPaw, I saw that Spring had broken from the Earth. Following the hardship of the last two years of the Pandemic and the dreary cold days of Winter, the promise of new life was evident in the magnificent blossoms around me.

Behind the wheel, my thoughts centered on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Between death and loss. Between ashes in the earth and hope and life eternal.

I reflected on the death of my mother Lucile, 12 years ago this month and how she was such an exquisitely beautiful flower in God’s Kingdom. I grieved for the loss of her in the physical. But I knew that the love in her for me lives forever now in God and the Holy Spirit.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about Spring.

Deuteronomy 32:2
Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.

Hosea 6:3
Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.

Dear God, I thank You for Spring. It is a perfect reminder to me that I should be living a full life and leaving the old dead parts of life behind.

God, I give thanks to You for the promise of Spring–for in the cascading of bridal veil, in the glory of the blossoming redbuds, azaleas, mountain laurel, gardenias, daffodils, roses, and the sweet smell of wisteria blossoms, I am reminded that life goes on.

God, although every human life ends, including mine, there is a spring, a holy well. A resting place in which I too will one-day flower forever in the Glory of Your eternal love. 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 Putin and for Peace — March 6, 2022

March 7, 2022 by Jack Emmott 1 Comment

I have been watching BBC News and the coverage of the war in Ukraine, the death, the grief, the displacement of millions, the separated, the homeless, the mothers and children looking out the windows of despair at loved ones left behind, and the fear on the stark faces of Ukrainians who may soon be without a country. And have already become or may become widows, widowers, and orphans.

For two long years, the world has been infected with Covid. Millions have died. The war against it is not yet over. I wonder what the long-haul consequences of Covid are and how its victims and their offspring will be adversely affected for generations to come.

Now, in Russia, Ukraine, and the world people are infected and affected by another disease. That disease is seated in the heart of Putin. That disease is the evil inside Putin. His evil is like a tapeworm to the collective soul and consciousness of all people. Apparently, in good conscience, Putin has and continues to commit the unconscionable, hateful, and inhumane wrongs to countless children of the same God who gave Putin the gift of birth to live and to love on Earth. The picture posted with my prayer is of Putin in a Russian Orthodox Church. He is in a place of worship. He stands on Holy ground.

I am reminded of Pascal’s quote, “Evil is never done so thoroughly or so well as when it is done with a good conscience.” It is clear to me that Putin does not have a conscience or empathy for others who inhabit Ukraine or the larger world. The gravity of the evil inside him is so great it has suffocated his ability to love others or to feel remorse for the death and hardship borne by those who are the object of his indifference and hate.
Like many of you, I worry about WWIII, a nuclear holocaust. Warheads detonated by the spark of Putin’s evil. Similarly, the Holocaust, the killing of millions of Jews, was the result of the evil and hatred that started with one man, Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s evil infected thousands of Germans who followed his command.

I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Duck and Cover Drills at Dean Junior High. Worried parents. Prayers said to avoid destruction. My neighbors, the Sustaires, building a nuclear bomb shelter. I wondered if they would let me in if the worst happened. Of course, that was a silly thought. I knew there was just enough room for the Sustaire Family. Their shelter had no room for me and others.

In my weekly prayers, I usually focus on happier topics and even include some humor. But what is happening with Putin, Russia, and Ukraine is neither happy nor funny.

But the good news is this — The God you and I serve, and the God Putin should serve too is the God of love, the God of hope, and the God of salvation.

The good news is that the evil in Putin cannot kill God. That is because God’s love is far stronger and more powerful than Putin’s evil and hatred. Nuclear energy is no match for the Creator of everyone including Vladimir Putin.

Until there is peace, I ask that each of you please join me in constant prayer for God to address what we cannot accomplish by economic sanctions and providing military equipment.

God has spoken to us about being comforted and finding peace in times like this.

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 16:33
I [Jesus] have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer I ask You to cover Putin with the precious body and blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

God, please shine Your Son’s healing light and love on Putin and those who follow his command to harm Your children.

God may Putin stand in the shadow of the Cross of Christ.

God, I ask that You and Your love vanquish the hate and evil in Putin’s heart and that others be shielded from harm in Ukraine and in Russia.

God, I thank You for watching over me and especially the Ukrainian people in their time of need of Holy Hope, comfort, and protection. Amen

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Prayer for Roy Rogers and All Heroes of Hope — February 27, 2022

February 27, 2022 by Jack Emmott 1 Comment

Last Friday in Cowtown Houston was Go Western Day. That morning parents hastily made sure their kids were adorned with cowboy and cowgirl attire fitting for their day at school. Today, looking out the window and feeling the cold breeze and gloomy drizzle sky that signaled that the Parade downtown, the Trail Riders, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo are here again.

My thoughts drifted back to my childhood days and to my Hero Roy Rogers. As an adult now I know there were many problems in the 1950s. Some of those problems remain unsolved after 70 years. Yet, at age 6 I held beliefs that Roy Rogers stood for as my true Hero. Firm beliefs I held then and even more firmly now despite polio and the losses in my life.

As a 6-year old boy, I believed that:
Life was simple.
Good always triumphs over evil.
People are mostly good.
Like heroes, I have a duty to care for and protect others from harm.
The end of something is always a new beginning.
Something good is always around the bend.
No matter how bad something is there is still hope, a way out of the darkness into the light.

Even if one could argue that my beliefs were and are not completely true, I chose to believe in their truth. Just as I choose to believe there is a benevolent God and His Angels watching over me and you every second of every day. Just as I believe that there is life after death. Even death is the beginning of a new life in Heaven.

So, just how fitting was it for me age seven to be on the stage with Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and Trigger at the Dads Club on Old Katy Road as I sat in a wheelchair paralyzed from polio. For a half-hour or so I sat next to my Hero Roy. My spirit was made stronger in the presence of who and what Roy meant to me. To be kissed by Dale Evans. To pet Trigger’s soft wet nose. This light-filled moment let me know that, although paralysis was dark and dreary, joy, hope, and wonderful things were still possible. So many bad things have been transformed by God’s love into good for me.

Roy and Dale were followed by other heroes in my life. The surgeons. The anesthesiologists. The nurses in the operating room. The therapists. The special education teachers. The orthotic doctors who fitted me with braces. The pulmonologists who gave me the breath of life. They all were fighting as my heroes to ensure that what the disease of polio intended for bad was turned into good. That the ending of my physical strength was just the beginning of a new, deeper more spiritual, and joyful life. That hope was not to be killed like the motor neurons in my spine were killed by the poliovirus.

I guess in some way my journey with polio with God’s help has been a hero’s journey too. It is my prayer that after I am gone like Roy, Dale, and Trigger that others will see and remember the goodness in me that I saw in them.

God has spoken in Scripture about the strength, perseverance, and love of heroes.
Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
John 15:12
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Let us pray together.

God, in prayer I ask that You give me the strength and the perseverance to be Your hero to others in times of struggle, loss, or desperation.

God, may my strength and service to others be rewarded now and in the future as You have promised me in Scripture.

God, I thank You for being a great and good God, my God who is big enough to allow Your servants like me to worship You and still have living heroes to inspire and sustain us.

God, You are my armor of light. You are my everlasting hero on Earth and in Heaven. Amen

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Prayer for Pets Passing over the Rainbow Bridge – February 20, 2022

February 19, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

In talking to friends and reading Facebook I hear stories of people who have lost their pets. Photographs are posted on Facebook of their experiences with pets and the moments of final embrace of a beloved dog or a cat. The level of grief experienced can be as great as losing a mother, a father, or a child. You and I know that pets are people too.

I have written the chapter in my book, Bending Angels, about my first pet, a dog named Brownie. Brownie was presented to me by my grandfather. At age seven I had just come home from the hospital. I felt like I had lost everything. I was paralyzed. I felt as lonely and as abandoned by God as my bicycle gathering dust in the garage.

There was a big hole in my life and in my spirit which seemed bottomless. Empty. Broken. Without a destination to something good. But, at that moment my grandfather placed in front of me a galvanized bucket full of vegetables from his garden. He said, “Bubba, look in this bucket and tell me if there something in it you want.” Leaning forward and looking down in the bucket I saw a six-week old Cocker spaniel puppy mutt mix. The puppy had big round eyes which looked like saucers, saucers lapping me with love spilling over the edges.

I learned about God’s unconditional love from my dog, Brownie. Also, I first experienced the grief that is known in the death of someone or something I loved. I could describe more of that feeling with you in this prayer. But, this week I choose not to.

I follow a column, Sean of the South. This column shows up in my inbox to start my day. The author posted a column this week entitled, All Dogs Go to Heaven. Rather than posting my experiences with the life and death of Brownie, instead I share with you this Sean of the South article. When you read it be prepared to laugh hysterically and then use a Kleenex or two at the end of the article. Here is the link to the article.

https://seandietrich.com/all-dogs-go-to-heaven/

God has spoken to us in Scripture about our pets.

Job 12:7
But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.

Revelation 5:13
And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer I thank You for my pets through whom I have received Your love, compassion, and care.

God, I know that I am imperfect. But, I am so blessed to get to know Your unconditional love for me from my pets.

God, please help me take good care of my pets. I know that I should love them and care for them as You do me.

God, please help others open their hearts and their homes to pets who need to be adopted and have been abandoned by others.

God, I look forward to being reunited with my pets who have crossed or will cross the Rainbow Bridge to the place where I, my loved ones, and Your creatures great and small will live together forever. Amen

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Prayer to Know and Show What Love Is on Valentine’s Day and Every Day – February 13, 2022

February 12, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

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

Those of you who are part of my prayer community have read my prayers which often touch on love–giving it, receiving it, sharing it, and knowing what it is.

It is hard to imagine a life truly lived without it. One cannot stress enough the importance of love and the harm to every person who does not receive it, especially at critical times; times I call Prayerful Passages. When death, loss, tragedy, or illness strikes. We need love then more than ever.

You and I have spent a lifetime learning what love is. It is in you and me. It magnificently shines from the lips and hugs and the little things children do. It happens when we pass it on to others. Pay for the coffee for the next car in line at Starbucks. Make donations of clothing at Goodwill. Write a personal letter of condolence to one who has lost a loved one or pet. Just like God’s love, the number of things you and I can do to show our love to another is without limit.

One day my heart and yours will stop beating. But, our loving acts live forever in those we leave behind. Gifts of love are seeds of God’s love that grow in the hearts of others, generation after generation.

On Valentine’s Day, we celebrate love. We give love and receive it too. From school children giving cards and candy hearts which say, “I love you,” or to a special dinner, cocktail, flowers, and a box of chocolate to our special Valentine.

My Valentine card to you today is my song, “What Is Love.” My deepest praise to Stephanie Jones, lead vocalist, Brian Carrion, guitarist and accompanying vocalist, and to Brad Burks of Austin who added the lyrics and graphics to the video. Click here for the YouTube video.

On Valentine’s Day, I will be with my Valentine for life, my wife Dorothy. Dorothy means “gift from God.” Thanks to God and to Dorothy I know what love truly is. I get to celebrate love not just on Valentine’s Day, but all year long.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about receiving and sharing love.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer may I see all the gifts of Your love You have given me.

God, may I be forever thankful for receiving Your love directly from You and from others in my life.

God, please help me to honor and serve You by sharing my love, compassion, and care with others.

God, may I strive to love others on ordinary days and not just on Valentine’s Day or special occasions. For You love me because I am special to You every day of my life and one day in Heaven. Amen

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Prayer for Rocks of Faith, Ancestral Photographs, and Ancestors – February 6, 2022

February 6, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here to enjoy Jack’s video version of this prayer.

I have always had a yearning for my Emmott family history in England and since they arrived in America in 1887. Also, I have been entranced by the stories I’ve heard of the families who lived near Emmottville.

As elsewhere in rural America, pioneering families came here from foreign lands to pursue dreams, marry, raise children and find happiness. They left everything behind them including mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters they knew they would never see again. They brought with them little more than a rock of faith, a strong work ethic, and hope for the best.

These ancestors were rugged, hardworking, and withstood floods, droughts, fires, disease, and pestilence to carve out for their descendants places to live, work, raise children and build churches. Churches to go to at times when there was nowhere else to go or to call home. No other place at which to be comforted by God in the face of death, crop failure, or tragedy.

Such was true for the Amish farmers who settled in Gum Island, Texas (now Fairbanks) in the 1800s. They had enough of floods, hurricanes, and mosquitos and left our area before 1900.

The Amish were followed by legendary Cypress-Fairbanks pioneering farmers, ranchers, and dairymen named Caesar, Swonke, Airola, Marietta, Francone, Jones, and more than 30 other dairymen who supported their families. They fed us. They set an example for us to follow not only in our time but for future generations.

Their stories are our stories. Their resilience in overcoming their struggles helped me in overcoming mine. The compassion I have for their disappointments and flaws enabled me to be more compassionate to others in my relationships within my own family. As with my polio, the fact that they survived hard times gave me courage to overcome the devastating consequences that polio and paralysis posed for me.

A dear friend gave me a copy of this 90-year-old treasured photograph of a school teacher, Miss Wichman, and her 17 students standing on the steps of the White Oak School House not too far from Emmottville. Next to the school stood a beautiful white wooden church with a steeple — the 1891 St. John Church. That church was relocated and now stands in Sam Houston Park near downtown Houston.

The problem with old photographs that survive the test of time and the elements is that seldom are the names of the people written on the back of the photo. But, thanks to Ruth Caesar, the beautiful girl standing to the right of her teacher, Miss Wichman, the names of every student appear. At Cy-Fair High School I went to school with the Swonke and Gabriel grandchildren of some of the students pictured here.

It is my prayer that this photograph reminds you of why faith and ancestral roots are important.

Learning their history, recording it, and preserving it is God’s blessing to us and all humankind. In the chaos, polarization, uncertainty, hardship, and death in the Pandemic, our ancestral stories give us roots to anchor us, to sustain us, and to reassure us that God has a greater plan for you and me. That is an innate need in me and probably you too.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about reverence for our ancestral spirits and the power of having a rock of faith.

Leviticus 32
Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.

Isaiah 32:2
Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Let us pray together.
Dear God, in prayer I thank You for my ancestors who paved the way for me and future generations.

God, please help me learn from the lives my ancestors lived and thereby find wisdom and strength in the living of my own life.
God, may I find You and Your purpose for me in the example of my forefathers.

God, may my trust in You and in what my ancestral family overcame never cease. For with You whatever lies ahead for me and those I love will be seen by You through the lens of Your love for me and them. God, in 90 years from now, may my descendants see my love for You in how I lived my life and served You in faith with thanksgiving.

God, please grant to all of us the willingness and the spirit to spend time identifying family members and friends on the back of photos – especially old photos where the knowledge of generations will soon be lost. Amen

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Prayer in Honor of Philip Abbott Masquelette and All Great Mentors – January 30, 2022

January 30, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Photos: Elizabeth (Betty) Simmons, Lamar High School
L-R Philip Masquelette, his Mother, and Brother Frank
Credit: Elizabeth Selig, Granddaughter, and David Masquelette, Son, for the photographs

Click here for Jack’s video version of this prayer.

Last week’s prayer was on grieving.

Yesterday I grieved for the loss of a truly great man, son, husband, family patriarch, Navy man, banker, probate and estate lawyer, member of the Houston Country Club, resident of River Oaks, and dear friend. But what made Philip great to me and to so many others who celebrated his life at St. Francis Episcopal Church on Piney Point Road was his faith in God, his stewardship to the Church, and the time he took throughout his life to mentor me and countless others.

As a young attorney, there were many times I desperately needed guidance, reassurance, wisdom, and a moral compass to be the best lawyer I could be. I wanted to emulate the kind of integrity, love, and action Philip exemplified in his long life of 96 years.

When I succeeded Philip as Chancellor of St. Francis Episcopal Church, Philip gave me all of the books I needed to study to learn the Cannons and laws of the Church. He always made time to train me to be the best I could be in that role. That is what great mentors do.

After I prepared wills for a prominent St. Francis couple who were later murdered by their son in November of 1992, Philip stood by me all the way in probating their wills and administering their complicated estates. After identifying the bodies and meeting with their son before his arrest, for a time I no longer had ease in my life.

At night in order to sleep, I held an ADT panic alarm button in one hand and a crucifix in the other. Philip stepped in to take the lead role in the Probate litigation in Judge Scanlon’s Court to keep the son from inheriting from the parents he killed. Philip became a beacon of light to spare me further emotional pain.

Philip mentored me as if I was his son. He called me “Bubba” or “young man” even after I was no longer young. That was not just for my benefit. That is the way all of us were treated in Philip’s mentoring. His mentoring of us was similar to Jesus and His 12 apostles who became His disciples, who spread light, hope, and wisdom to others in their struggles, in their grieving, and in their quest to love others.

From 1999 until 2007 I officed across the hall from Philip at the Decorative Center. Beginning in 2008 Philip and I joined Gray Reed (formerly Looper Reed and Mc Graw). I can say those years together were the happiest years in my legal practice. The proximity to Philip and his greatness brought me much joy, many laughs, and ultimately God’s peace.

In 2008 Philip invited me to join his family at the Houston Country Club to celebrate the 60th Wedding Anniversary of his marriage to his beautiful bride Betty Simmons Masquelette. Like Philip, Betty was a mentor to innumerable men and women. Betty was the first woman ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. Betty officed with Philip at the Decorative Center as well as at Gray Reed. The lawyers and staff knew they could always drop in, close Betty’s door and be mentored, receive a prayer, and God’s peace.

At the celebration of their 60th Wedding Anniversary on display was a picture of Betty Simmons from her high school years. She had been chosen as Houston’s Most Beautiful High School Girl. While looking at that picture as we shared a gin and tonic (the official libation of all Episcopalians), Philip reflected on the first day he saw Betty on the stairs in the Simmons home. He fell immediately in love with her and his love continued until his last breath.

As the service ended the Reverend Stuart Bates lead the Commendation of Philip into the arms of God’s mercy. At that moment my thoughts centered on the Heavenly reward earned by Philip and Betty in their service to God. For as God’s disciples, they are together in God’s perfect peace. Caressing one another in God’s everlasting loving embrace.

May we honor them. May we show our thanksgiving to them and to God by being mentors to others and being the best children of God we can be.
Knowing Philip and Betty and witnessing their mentorship to others was to know the Father of us all. For they represented God’s love in the world. Just how much do we in America need this now and forever?

God has spoken to us in Scripture about mentoring in His Kingdom.

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Hebrews 13:7
Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

Proverbs 13:20
He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will suffer harm.

Philippians 4:9
The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer I thank you for Philip and Betty Masquelette and all mentors in my life.

God, please help me to mentor others, to listen, to encourage, and to guide others in following God’s path in the living of their lives.

God, I rejoice in knowing that when I mentor others as Your disciple my works shine Your light and love on the world. Amen

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Prayer for Grief Clothed in the Closet – January 22, 2022

January 23, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here to enjoy Jack’s video version of this prayer.

Every child of God will experience grief at one point in their life. Grief comes to every one of us when we lose a family member or a parent dies. Grieving is more difficult today because of the impact of the safety precautions in this Pandemic.

As hard as the process of grieving is, it is made much more difficult if one cannot physically share grief with others. Sharing grief by Zoom is hardly as healing as the warm embrace of others. Or sitting in the comfort of home or place of worship with another without fear of catching or giving COVID to the other person.

I, like many people, have somehow managed to move beyond the grief of lost family members. We never quite forget what was lost, yet somehow our hearts manage to adapt. At some point, most of us find a way to step out of the darkness of sorrow and death and move forward into the light of a new day, a new future filled with hope.

There are many ways people deal differently with grief. Kubler-Ross says grief has five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Each person does not move through the stages in the same order. Some stages in the grieving process are not experienced by everyone who grieves. In our fast-paced digital world, those who grieve are often not given the time to grieve in their own way or their own time. Here is one example of someone who experienced grief in her own unexpected way.

I have a friend Betty (not her name). She and her sister, Linda (not her name), were very close. Linda was a good wife and mother to her children. Betty was a gifted caregiver, organizer, and cook. Between the sisters who were both devoted to their parents, Betty took care of the personal and day-to-day needs of her parents until they died. Betty was in charge of probating their wills and handling the disposition of the contents of their parents’ home.

After both parents had died, Betty and Linda worked together over a few years to divide the furnishings of the home and to dispose of the remaining contents of the home except for one area-the master bedroom closet. It was full of their mother’s clothes. Her dresses, sweaters, shawls, blouses, and shoes. Despite Betty’s repeated requests for Linda to join her to deal with their mother’s clothes, Linda never agreed to do so. Over the years when Betty and Linda were together at the house Linda never found the time to take care of this one last important task.

The time had come for the house to be sold. Betty had given up on Linda. She had to just take care it on her own without Linda’s help.
Before the closing date on the sale of the home, Betty and Linda were at the residence one last time. Linda left the room and came back in a few minutes with tears flowing down her face. Betty said, “Linda, what on Earth is wrong?” In reply, Linda exclaimed, “Where are Mother’s clothes?” Betty said, “I gave them to charity so that someone in need could use them.” Linda responded, “How could you have done that?” Betty replied, “I didn’t know you cared. I have been asking you for years to go through them with me. You always refused.” Linda said, “I did care. You never noticed that every time I met you at the house I left you for a few minutes. On those occasions, I opened the door to Mother’s clothes closet. I closed the door behind me. In the darkness, I was able to smell Mom. Even though Mom was dead, I visited her in that closet. I felt her presence, her light, and her love.”

Being in her mother’s closet Linda found a way to embrace her mother’s death. To be present with her for a few minutes. That was Linda’s way to grieve for the death of her mother.

God has spoken to us in Scripture as to how to manage grief.

Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Psalm 34:18
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Revelation 21:4
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer, please be with me when my grief is clothed in darkness and sorrow.

God, as each day passes please comfort me as only You can.

God, please help me to be present with others who grieve and to listen and have them share their emotional pain in their own way and in their own time.

God, please grant me the courage and strength to accept the loss of the one I loved.

God, my Savior and Redeemer, at the end of my grieving days on Earth, I have faith that Your light will pierce the darkness. Your love will deliver me and those I’ve lost to Heaven-the final resting place where all grieving truly ends and eternal life begins with You and in You forever and ever. Amen

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Prayer to Accommodate God’s Children with Special Needs – January 16, 2022

January 17, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

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

To our loving God and Creator aren’t we all special? We each are granted gifts that are unique and which no one else in the world has. We look different than others. Some of us are outgoing and others of us are shy or introverted. Some of us are bookworms and some are athletes. Others have gifted left brains who seem to be destined to be scientists, engineers, mathematicians or software developers.

There are also those who are anchored in the wealth of the right brain. To be lawyers, authors, speakers, songwriters, bloggers, poets or artists.

All are children of God like me. But some besides being special to God, have special needs. Whether due to DNA, trauma, accident, death of a loved one, or disease, need a helping hand in order to develop and achieve God-given talents.

The home, school, or workplace needs to provide accommodations so that the riches in the child can flower and live out the coil of potentiality God gave them. Without those accommodations, the life and dreams of such children will die. The loss will not only be felt by the child but, so will the world. The measure of such a loss is incalculable.

From reading my book, Bending Angels, you know my special needs resulted from polio. One set of my needs centered on accessibility. The wheelchair ramp installed by Roy Metcalf at Cy-Fair High School. The ramp put in front of Townes Hall at the University of Texas School of Law. But, gaining access to a school of learning just gets you in the front door. That alone to millions of disabled children is meaningless without accommodations to ease the barrier to achievement.

On June 6, 1972, I attended my first law school class. At that time there was no ADA and other requirements in place to address my needs. My first professor was the esteemed Robert Hamilton. Since I could not take comprehensive notes due to weak hands which tired easily, I had a tape recorder on my desk next to my law book. After class, I intended to play the tape back slowly and pause as needed to complete my notes. As the class started Professor Hamilton stopped talking. He marched up the steps from the podium in the sunken classroom. Then, stood at my wheelchair and said, “You will not be allowed to record my lectures. You have to learn in my class like every other student. There will be no exceptions for you.”

I was already concerned about competing with many other classmates from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia University. Now, I was devastated. I was destined to fail. Thankfully, the next day, T.J. Gibson, Dean of Students, met with Professor Hamilton and instructed him to allow me to record the lectures. He complied.

The day came for me to take my three-hour final exam. I was told by Dean Gibson not to worry about writing too slow. That I was to be given additional time to rest my hand and complete the exam. As the proctor handed me the Contracts final exam, she said, “Professor Hamilton told me that he was not complying with Dean Gibson’s directive to afford you additional time to take the exam. He said you must do what every other student does in taking the exam.” I was in tears. I completed about two-thirds of the exam. A few days later I got my results. A grade of 62. The second-lowest grade in the class of 100 students.

In tears, I went to see Dean Gibson. Unexpectedly, Dean Gibson looked at me and said, “I do not know what is wrong with Professor Hamilton. I am so proud of you, Jack. That is such a great result under the conditions you took the exam.”

Fortunately, the second half of Contracts was taught by Professor Larry Palmer from Rutgers Law School. When that six-week semester was completed, I sat for the three-hour final exam and was afforded additional writing time. I made a 92. For all my remaining law school classes, I received additional time. I became a member of Phi Delta Phi, a membership qualification of being in the top ten percent of the class.

Without a tape recorder and additional exam time, I would’ve failed. I would never have become a family law and collaborative divorce attorney. My life’s work of contributing to healing others would never have happened.

God has spoken to us in Scripture to include His disabled children in our walks of faith.

Luke 14:12
“He said also to the man who had invited him, ‘When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.'”

Let us pray together.

Dear God, please help me and all those in authority in education and in the workplace to recognize the special needs of Your disabled children.

God, please empower me and those in authority to fully understand the needs of Your disabled children and in compassion provide what is needed to fulfill their potential.

God, please grant strength to those who witness indifference to the needs of disabled children, and for them to speak up and to demand that they be treated just as special as You treat all Your children.

God, in heaven our bodies and minds will be perfect. But, on Earth, we must invite people from all walks of life to be part of your Kingdom on Earth.

Mankind’s greatest disability is ignorance and indifference. The greatest accommodations we can provide to disabled children are understanding, compassion, and Your love. Amen

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Prayer to Pivot, to Change Direction, and to Be Flexible – January 9, 2022

January 9, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Please click here to see Jack’s video version of this prayer.

My father’s 1940 UT Sig Ep basketball team

At first glance, you may think this photograph of my father taken at Gregory Gymnasium is not relevant to the title of this week’s prayer. As an athlete at age 21 at the University of Texas, he was very gifted.

Often, when I view this photo, I wonder what kind of basketball player I would’ve been if I had not gotten polio. How tall might I have been? How fast of foot would I have been? Would my photograph be placed on the wall next to my dad’s at Gregory Gym at UT? My heart aches a little when such thoughts swell within me.

Yet, the lessons I learned from Dad’s example provided so much to me in meeting the challenges of paralysis and polio. Those lessons have helped for the last two years in facing Covid and its mutations. Maybe this prayer about my dad will help you too.

Dad told me how he was able to follow the rules of basketball in college that were not modifiable by him. No matter how much he didn’t like them. Or just how much he wanted to say, “Those rules don’t apply to me.” Although the rules of play were a given, Dad spoke of how he was able to adapt to successfully compete with the other players whose skills, height, weight, speed, aggressiveness, and defensive abilities were barriers to winning games.

Dad told me of two rules which seem impossible today. One was after that every two-point bucket was made, the very next play was a jump ball at center court. The next possession was determined by which team got the jump ball. The other rule for Dad and his teammates to navigate was a requirement from the team’s coach. Only one player on the team was allowed to shoot a shot on each possession. That player was the “designated shooter.” If a player took or even made a shot who was not the designated shooter, that player would find himself getting splinters sitting on the bench or no longer on the team.

Dad was a successful basketball player due to hard work and his God-given talents. He had to strictly adhere to the rules of the game but also had to be able to pivot, change direction, and be flexible.

After UT, Dad experienced many things which required the ability to be flexible. Leaving his 18-year old bride, Lucile, for five years to serve in WWII in Italy. Not being able to come home to be with his wife when their first child was stillborn. After the war, handling damages to his home from floods from White Oak Bayou. Me, his first son, getting polio. Doing the burdensome and unexpected things for me to give me the best chance for recovery and rehabilitation. Dad was in a coma for a month after falling from the roof in 1983. All the rehab to recover mentally and physically from the brain injury.

Thankfully, God gave my dad and gives you and me a quality, part of our true God-given nature—–Flexibility. To bend. To not break. To not be rigid. To not suffer a breakdown in mind, body, spirit.

God’s grace in the gift of flexibility enables us to live fully and love deeply in an ever-changing world. A world made more difficult now with a virus that continuously adapts, changes, and pivots in new directions. Ways which have turned our families, travels, workplaces, homes, church attendance, and social lives upside down. Ways which have divided us.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about flexibility.

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Mark 9:23
If you can believe, all things are possible to them that believe.

Dear God, please help me to find the qualities You in ensouled in me to be flexible, to change, and to pivot as I navigate the blessed life You have gifted me.

God, sometimes I am so compelled to hold onto my own way of thinking or acting. That my way is the right way. That I refuse to compromise at all. Please help me avoid such rigidity of thinking.

God, please help me to hold on to You while I bend to accept things that cannot be changed and to change those things which are within my power. That in doing so I can harvest the riches and bountiful treasures You place in my path.

God, may I remember each day, that, if I pivot and renew my focus and thoughts on You and Your Kingdom, I can do more than just survive and thrive. I can change the world to be a better place despite whatever challenges I face. 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.