So, do you know where you’re headed in life? Are you clear on what to expect in the future with your business, your health, and your relationships?

I saw value of knowing ahead of time what you’re going to do in a recent tennis lesson.

I’ve often struggled in my tennis game with what’s called, “being ready.” When the tennis ball was hit hard in my direction, I would react late and mishit the ball.

While attempting to rectify the problem, a coach recently asked me, “Where do you expect to hit the ball?” I thought it was an irrelevant question because my problem was the act of hitting the ball well, not figuring out where to hit the ball.

But he was right, and I was wrong.

He served the ball to me, and I floundered. He hollered across the court, “Where were you going to hit the ball?” I said, “I don’t know. I was trying to hit the ball.”

He retorted, “I could tell you didn’t think about where to hit the ball because your feet didn’t move. You just stood there until it was too late to get ready in time.”

Suddenly, I got it. He was reading my thoughts by watching my body.

To hit a good ball, your body has to be in position before the ball gets to your hitting zone. Once your body is set up, you can swing at the ball with pinpoint accuracy and rally with control.

My body was not getting into position, because my thought was not making plans ahead of time. I was not physically prepared because I was not mentally prepared.

I followed his directions.

Before he hit the ball to me, I planned where I was going to hit it. I was ready! And it worked. With a specific target in my mind, as soon as he served the ball, without any conscious thought, my whole body turned into position, and I hit a terrific return—over and over again.

And a lesson for life was learned.

“Balls” are served to us all the time, in the form of new opportunities, expanded possibilities, inspired ideas, help from unexpected places, and God’s love expressed all around. But if we are not in a ready position, we flounder when the opportunity gets to us. We stand flat-footed and fail to take advantage of the potential blessing. The rest of the world keeps on turning while we stand there befuddled wondering what happened.

We can avert the “Ooh, what happened?” dazed surprise by being prepared ahead of time for life’s blessings when they come. And they are coming—all the time!

Are you ready for them? Do you expect good? Do you accept God’s unbounded love for you? If so, you’re ready.

Or do you doubt, worry, fear and waste mental attention with discouragement, despair, woe-me, feel sorry for myself attitude? If so, you’re not ready. You’re lost in the dark world of self and not seeing beyond a few inches.

So, be ready! God is hitting a ball of progressive opportunity your way today, and you can respond with focused fervor that sees the opportunity coming, gets into a ready position to receive it, and hits a scoring point.

Jesus Christ pointed the way. God’s truth takes us to heaven—harmony, peace, love, and health. As we live dedicated to demonstrating the truth of being, our body, relationships, business transactions, and other activities, automatically come “into position,” to allow the maximum good to enter our experience. As we consciously know we’re demonstrating perfection, the human mind unconsciously adjusts to allow it to happen, just like my body came into position on court when I planned ahead of time what I was going to do with that body.