"As long as it is day,
we must do the work of him who sent me.
Night is coming, when no one can work."
John 9:4
Long ago, in the days before modern harbors, a ship would have to wait for the flood tide before it could make it to port. The Latin term for this situation was ob portu. Literally, the phrase means "standing over against the port" or "before the port."
The picture that the phrase calls to mind is instructive: the ship was before the port, waiting for the moment when it could ride the tide into the harbor.
And that's where we get the English word opportunity.
The picture that the phrase calls to mind is instructive: the ship was before the port, waiting for the moment when it could ride the tide into the harbor.
And that's where we get the English word opportunity.
Imagine a captain and crew ready and waiting for that perfect moment when the time would be right. If, for some reason, they missed that moment, they would be required to wait for another tide to come in. And that's exactly what opportunity is - the perfect time to catch the tide.
Shakespeare uses that very image of opportunity in Julius Caesar (act 4, scene 3). Brutus is speaking and he says:
Shakespeare uses that very image of opportunity in Julius Caesar (act 4, scene 3). Brutus is speaking and he says:
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
At the beginning of a new year, we are "afloat on a full sea." It seems that the tide is rising. It seems that the time is right. In fact, we have the opportunity to do the work of him who has sent us.
We are before the port.
Opportunities abound! Beginning today, we can actually act on what we know. We can make better choices. We can even be different people. We are before the port.
What a blessing it is to be afloat on a full sea.
And who knows what God would do if we would simply seize the opportunity before us . . .
We are before the port.
Opportunities abound! Beginning today, we can actually act on what we know. We can make better choices. We can even be different people. We are before the port.
What a blessing it is to be afloat on a full sea.
And who knows what God would do if we would simply seize the opportunity before us . . .