The Self-confidence Formula: Third

Third:  I know, through the principal of autosuggestion, that any desire I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of obtaining the object back of it; therefore I will devote ten minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of self-confidence.(Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich)

In his book The Dreamgiver, Bruce Wilkinson says God gives each of us a dream at birth, that the dream doesn't belong to me, it is God's, I am merely the steward of the dream; and that, if I don't follow my dream, others will suffer.  I am now convinced this is true. 

God put in each of us a unique combination of gifts and graces, and he placed each of us where he placed us, and exactly when, not for a reason, but for a host of reasons.

You are God's gift to the world.

Each one of us is.

When any of us fails to achieve our dreams, something God wants for the world doesn't come to fruition.  If people don't suffer, they don't prosper as they should.  And frequently, people suffer.

You are that important to the world.  And your refusing to believe it isn't "humble".  It's shirking your duty.  It's abdicating your responsibility.  And it's short-circuiting your own greatest happiness.

So self-confidence isn't optional. It's necessary. We will never be of any use to anyone before we believe in our abilities.

This is where I think Satan has his greatest triumph:  in convincing us that we are no one of any significance, that nothing we ever do will make any difference, that the world would be no better off without us.  I think this is behind teenage pregnancy, drug addiction, obesity, a host of evils.  I think all of these things grow out of our failure to recognize ourselves for what we are:  nascent Children of God, royalty beyond anything the House of Windsor will ever reach, greater than all the greatest kings, emperors, caesars, czars, presidents, prime ministers, popes, prefects, patriarchs, premieres combined will ever be.

I demand of myself the development of self-confidence.

I'm not 100% sure what that means.  I don't really know how to do that.   But I have learned, from the few times I have acted, that when you really get into a part, you can become that part. 

I know what self-confidence looks like.  Self-confidence looks others squarely and forthrightly in the eyes.  Self confidence stands tall and erect.  Self confidence moves deliberately, and not too fast.  Self confidence speaks firmly, slowly enough to be understand, never shrilly.  I can do that.  I will do that.  I must do that.  The dream God has given me is so huge and so important and so necessary, the world suffers so without it, for the sake of the world, I demand of myself the development of self-confidence!