Lord – How many of us are so busy we find ourselves fretting over not having had enough time to do what the soul asks of us? Where is the time to pray? To go to church? To sit uninterrupted to read a book? To take a walk in the woods? To write a note to someone who is ill? To send a thank you card to show appreciation for an act of kindness or sympathy given for the loss of a loved one? Or be still long enough to make sense of a problem and find calm wisdom?

God – The book of our lives are the days we have to love and serve You. There must be enough margin or room on each of those pages for us to live the full, purposeful, and joyful life You gifted us.

Lord, please grant each of us the ability to do as religious columnist, Rick Brown, recently wrote, to make room for some margin in our lives. If we do not leave enough margin on the pages we write, reading becomes difficult. Without margin on the pages of our lives, life becomes hard to live and love difficult to receive and give. The days are full, but we are left empty.

Lord, I thank You for my brother in Christ and outstanding family lawyer, Michael Craig. Without Michael, I would not have read Rick Brown’s column, heard about Dr. Richard Swenson’s book, Margin, or written this prayer.

Lord, in granting this prayer, may I and all Your children find a way to slow down, to be less anxious, and to rest our bodies each day. Then, in the margins, may we listen to You and learn how You want us to spend our days in the book of our lives. Amen

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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 the Bending Angel website.