Humbly Self Confident

If there is one thing that God has shown my family and I in the past 9 years, it is a particular difference: Self Confidence is not Self Dependence.

Dictionary
Confidence: Self-Assurance, Boldness
Dependence: Something on which one relies [self]

Take my dad for instance. He has the professional self confidence within himself to land accounts for his business. He humbly realizes that he has the personality, the tact, and the where-with-all to go into a corporation and return with a profitable agreement. However, he is dependent on God to supply these accounts, to care for us in the bad economy, to reduce the stress level, and to increase overall family happiness.

One particular lesson that God taught us comes to mind. It was two springs ago, when my dad and I were building my mom's garden with heavy cross ties. We had failed to pray that morning and our minds were not particularly focused on God that previous week. We had both self confidence and self dependence in this case, when we should have only had self confidence. We forgot that God deals in the small things, and not only the huge life changers. He is our Father, and for a father to raise his children correctly, he has to be tenacious.

What should have taken us 2-3 days to build the beds in my mom's garden, it took 3-4 weekends. That previous week, we had grown self confident and our mind was not on God and His will. We were planning for a big successful weekend, not putting God first, nor did we obey James 4:15, "For that you ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that".

This is only a short synopsis of the whole picture. It has taken my family 9 years to realize the fine line between self confidence and our dependence on God. I'm sure that we still have too much self dependence. I for one struggle heavily in this area, but theoretically, if you have your foot in the door of any new idea, is it not by literal terms open?