At this moment in the history of dealing with the Pandemic, families in America and around the world are divided. Ripped apart. Fractured in the positions taken about whether or not to be vaccinated. We are all children of one God. Yet, family members are unable to agree on one of the two choices which is best for family health.

The emotional suffering endured in the tectonic shift in families between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated is palpable. Houses are divided between those who choose to be vaccinated to protect themselves and others from Covid. And those who choose not to be vaccinated because the risks of being vaccinated to them outweigh the known risks of Covid.

This prayer is not about the adverse effects of Covid or the number of victims who have died. It is about the families and homes divided by the consequences of deciding to be or not to be vaccinated. It is about the anxiety, stress, and loss occasioned by family members in the abyss of the exercise of individual choice and freedom. Families are literally being torn apart and separated physically and emotionally from those they love.

As a Collaborative Divorce Attorney, as well as a family member, I witness every day the suffering which this prayer addresses. How many of you know of couples having marriage ceremonies that require vaccinations to attend? These are once-in-a-lifetime occasions. The unvaccinated family and friends experience the loss of not attending. The vaccinated family and friends who attend are heartbroken because the unvaccinated are unable to attend. How many of you know of multi-generational homes in which the unvaccinated are asked to leave by the vaccinated owners. The vaccinated owners want to be as safe as possible. They do not want to play Russian roulette with Covid-19 or any of its variants.

How many of you know of grandparents who want to make a grand memory of a family trip with their children and grandchildren to Disneyworld, to explore National Parks, to go to exotic places or foreign countries, or to vacation in the Caribbean Islands. But their children and grandchildren cannot come because they refuse to get vaccinated.

This prayer is not to praise the vaccinated or to fault those who decide not to get the vaccine. In families divided by this issue both sides suffer. The unvaccinated feel alienated and excluded by loved ones. The vaccinated feel the loss of those who are unable to attend birthday celebrations, weddings, vacations, and even funeral services. Often resentment and anger within families add fuel to the fire of despair. This prayer is not about blame or judgment. The world has enough of that. This prayer is about asking God’s help to heal all the suffering in divided houses. A prayer to reunite in God’s time what seems impossible in our time. A prayer for God to do Holy reconciliation in the all too common suffering by family members. All family members need love and hope whether or not the needle has been placed in their arms.

As a dear friend said recently, something sacred, profound, healing, and Holy sometimes only happens when we step aside and make way for our loving God to step in.

God has spoken in Scripture about stepping in after we step away from our troubles.

Proverbs 16:9
We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.
Psalm 138:3
The moment I called out, God stepped in; He made my life large with strength.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, I pray for You to heal every family experiencing fear, loss, anxiety, stress, or resentment in their homes at the intersection of the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

God, I know that You are my gentle God, my God who waits until I give up, until I get my hands off what I cannot handle before You move in to do what healing is needed

God, may Your healing reside in the ways You ask me and others to behave or in the way You change my heart. God, as for those with whom I disagree I give them to You to love as You always do.

God, please reconcile and reunify all houses divided, disheartened, or broken at the intersection of choosing whether or not to be vaccinated in the time of Covid. 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 BendingAngel website.