Take your opportunities and more will be presented to you.

I woke up this morning with the phrase echoing through my head. It became my mantra on my run, a steamy five miles done at an easy pace with no watch. Take your opportunities and more will be presented to you. It’s a phrase I first heard from Venus Williams, describing advice she received from her sister and a philosophy that helped her win a dramatic Wimbledon Championship in 2005.

Take your opportunities and more will be presented to you.

There was plenty to think about with this particular bit of life wisdom. Because surely not every opportunity that walks across my path is one that I necessarily need to take. But then again, maybe I’m defining opportunity the wrong way in those situations. Maybe the opportunity given is to decide what it is I really want and to seize the chance to declare it.

And when I try to take an opportunity and it doesn’t work out? Well, what if I look at it this way: I took the opportunity that was given to me. I took a chance. I tried. I engaged. If I trust in the process, then I believe more opportunities will be presented to me.

Sometimes opportunities don’t make sense. I’m looking for a nice, neat script with a linear storyline. But life is not linear. And I’ve never been very good at linear thinking anyway. So why fight my nature?

What would happen if I took the opportunities given to me? What might then be able to come way? What type of momentum might I create in my life?

Take your opportunities and more will be presented to you.

Perhaps it’s time for a little faith.