by Drs Bil and Cher Holton
A rich man and his son loved to collect priceless works of art. They had everything from Picasso to Van Gogh. They would often sit together and admire their immense collection.
They had planned a buying trip to Europe, but the Iraq war interrupted their plans. The son’s reserve unit was sent to Baghdad.
During his second tour of duty the son was killed by a roadside bomb. The father had lost his wife to cancer and now he had lost his only son.
A little over a month later, just before Thanksgiving, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door holding a large box.
He said, “Sir, you don’t know me, but I served with your son in Iraq. He saved my life. He was the bravest man I’ve ever seen. He often spoke of you, and your mutual love for art.”
The surprise visitor held out the package. “I know this isn’t much. I’m not really a great artist, but I think your son would want you to have this.”
The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son in military uniform. He gasped in awe at the way the young soldier had captured his son’s personality.
He thanked the young man and offered to purchase the painting.
“Oh, no sir.” Insisted the young man, “I could never repay what your son did for me. It’s a gift for you.” They spent the afternoon talking about the man’s son and the arts.
The father hung the painting over the mantle. Whenever friends visited he showed them the portrait of his son before he showed them any of his other artwork.
On New Year’s day the bereaved widower made his own transition. Some of his dearest friends believed it was from a broken heart. As his last request, he wanted his paintings auctioned. Many rich people and art collectors came to add his rare paintings to their own collections.
The painting of his son sat on the auction easel. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. “We will begin the bidding with this portrait. Who will bid for this painting of the son?”
There was silence, then nervous whispers. Finally a voice from the back of the room shouted, “We’re not interested in that one. We’ve come to buy the Picassos, and Rembrandts, and Raphaels.”
But the auctioneer persisted. “Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100? $200?
Another voice shouted defiantly, “We didn’t come to bid on this painting. We came for the Van Goghs and the DiVincis.”
Undaunted, the auctioneer continued, “The son. Who will take the son?”
Finally, a voice came from the rear of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. “I’ll give $100 for the painting.” Being a a man of modest means, it was all he could afford. He loved the man and his son and felt the son was his son too.
“We have $100. Who will give $200?”
“Give it to him for $100. We want the master’s works, the real paintings.” Someone chorused.
$100 is the bid. Won’t someone bid $200?
The gallery became angry. They didn’t want the inferior painting. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.
The auctioneer pounded the gavel. “Going once, going twice, SOLD for $100.
The room broke out in applause. One man offered $10 to the gardener as a token thank you for speeding up the auction, but the gardener refused. “They always made me feel like I was part of the family,” he confessed. “I have always been thankful for my employment with them.”
His purchase of the painting came from answered prayer. He had hoped for a memento, and now he had one. He had received a small inheritance from the man’s will, but the painting of his son was truly wonderful.
Suddenly, the auctioneer laid down his gavel. “I’m sorry, but that concludes the auction. The auction is over.”
“What?” shouted the audience. “What do you mean the ‘auction is over?’”
“I’m sorry for such an abrupt end to these proceedings. When I was called to conduct this auction I was informed of a stipulation in the will. I can now tell you what that stipulation is. Only the portrait of the son was to be auctioned. Whichever bidder bought the portrait would inherit the entire estate! The man who bid $100 for the son gets everything!”
It is through the acupuncture of prayer that we find peace, and rest, and answers, and wealth. Like the gardener, we have ready access to Universal Supply. Our good is waiting for us. Our prosperity is just a prayer away. All we have to do is turn to the Son, the Christ Spirit within.
Although the way we pray differs, most people have learned from the faith traditions in which they grew up to ask, to petition, to beg an external anthropomorphic deity for things they want. They believe in ‘dial-up’ prayer instead of instant, high speed access prayer.
In this 6th in a series of “Get Over It” talks we have selected the well-known New Thought phrase ‘Be careful what you pray for’ as a phrase which should be laid to rest with the embedded theology which gave birth to it.
It is a phrase which perpetuates the anthropomorphic deity myth which has kept our eyes focused on a super-being ‘out there’ who will save us if we’re obedient, patient, and gullible.
The help ‘out there’ motif is perpetuated by the mythological Superman, Batman, and Super Hero characters which Hollywood has so expertly created for us.
We have all grown up with the belief that our Savior will come from ‘out there.’ That our Savior must be some sort of super hero with super powers. Basically the message is we are too unworthy, weak, and whinny to save ourselves.
In his book, Dynamics For Living, Charles Fillmore asserted, “The way to attain health and wealth is to put your prayerful words and creative actions to work and bring into swift action the Superman Christ within.”
The super hero is within us. It is the Superman Christ within us. When we get to the point that we identify with our Superman Christ within, and not with fictitious superheroes ‘out there’ we master our earth experience.
Prayer works the same way. We believe there is a collective wisdom at our core, and shared by all of us, that senses an unseen spiritual Presence. A Presence that is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent.
In Matthew 21:22 the Christ said: “Whatever we ask in prayer, believing with faith, we shall receive.” The word ‘ask’ really means ‘affirm or declare.’ And ‘prayer’ means ‘direct, unobstructed communion with Spirit.’
So, what Matthew 21:22 really means is when we declare our oneness with Spirit by going within to make that connection, and believe that we have instant access to Universal Supply, we will receive all we need to manifest our abundance. This verse is the key to manifesting our good.
It is communing FROM this this indivisible connection with the Christ within, that we move toward our good. It is FROM this inner place of alignment with the Omnipresence of God that we position ourselves to receive.
This means we do not have to pray TO a God ‘out there.’ There’s no need to dial-a-prayer! We don’t have to worry for what we pray believing that if we don’t pray right we might get something other than what we prayed for. That’s not how prayer works!
There’s no dispensing God ‘up there’ waiting for us to mess up in our prayer languaging so It can surprise us with something we didn’t expect. There are no prayer police monitoring our prayers to see if we’re asking for the right things.
‘Be careful for what you pray for’ is a fear-based message. It is not wise to build guilt, and fear, and anxiety into a prayer experience.
What is useful is to live a prayer-conditioned life, one which features absolute trust in your oneness with Spirit.
About the Author:
Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at
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