Deuteronomy 8:18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

In the old Civil War movie, “Shenandoah,” Jimmy Stewart plays a widower and Southern family patriarch named Anderson. He and his family work a farm in the Shenandoah Valley.  Anderson attempts to ignore and isolate his family from the war, but is unable to do so.  An interesting side note: his late wife had made him promise that he would raise his family by her Christian values.  So he makes sure they go to church, and he always prays before they eat.

Anderson’s standard prayer before meals goes something like this: “Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvest it. We cook the harvest. It wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be eating it if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you Lord just the same for the food we’re about to eat, Amen.”

Maybe we don’t verbalize it in such a way, but I think many of us rely on our own abilities, strengths and resources and then forget from where those resources come. There is something to remember. No matter how talented we are, no matter how deep our pockets, at some point we reach the end of ourselves. However, there are no such limits with God.