Master the Pivot | LifeBlog, Rachel Klinge
(For More content from Pastor Rachel, visit her website at www.RachelKlinge.com)
I think we’re all in agreement that 2020 has not gone as planned. It’s staggering how something so small and unseen can have such a profound impact on our lives and lifestyles.
We’ve made it through weeks of cleaning out drawers and organizing closets, settling into new hobbies of bread making and chick raising, and revisited the puzzles and games we had tucked away. All the while, we’ve had to re-orient our work schedules and our children’s education. Now that we’ve come this far, where do we go from here?
It’s time that we learn how to pivot. Pivot is a term that I learned early on at the ripe age of ten years old while playing basketball. Pivot speaks of the moment you have the ball and need to take a look at what’s around you before making your next move. It’s essential to keep one foot grounded while you lift the other foot to turn and take in your surroundings. Pivoting is essential for reorienting yourself. Once you have an adjusted vantage point you can proceed with the best decision. Where do you go from here? Do you see an open lane to the basket? Do you pass to a team member so they can score? Do you shoot?
There are times we can feel stuck and yet sense the impression of the Spirit to keep going. It’s time that we learn to master the pivot in our lives.
The children of Israel came to a moment where everything seemed to come to a standstill. They were in an apparently impossible situation – backed up against the Red Sea with an angry army in pursuit and nowhere to go. Look at what God said to them, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go FORWARD!” (Exodus 14:15 emphasis mine
Rather than going back, God called them forward. Here is the thing: transition and change can feel so unsettling at times we’d rather return to where we were. Notice what the Israelites had been saying when they came to this moment (Exodus 14:12), “It would have been better to serve the Egyptians than die in the wilderness.”
Are you understanding this? They were saying it was better for them to remain enslaved, misused, and abused than to face this pivotal moment. Our circumstances are not as extreme, but our reactions are often similar. We would rather live in the comfort of the familiar than learn to live in a new place. But can you hear the voice of God calling us on?
This is not time to freeze. It’s time to press forward. In order to do so, we must learn the power of the pivot. Here are three ways to master the pivot:
Stay grounded. You have to establish your pivot foot. While you’re trying to discern and distinguish where to go and what to do, you’ve got to keep one foot firmly in place while the other foot is lifted and ready for action. Establish where you are before you move. Moving forward does NOT mean you abandon everything and everyone. Stay grounded in the scriptures and in your relationships. Take care of yourself physically, spiritually, and mentally. Don’t “travel”. Keep your pivot foot planted.
Adjust your viewpoint. Look up! Keep your eye on what’s coming and who is around you. There may be a way opening that you didn’t see before. For the Israelites, it was the Red Sea as God worked a miracle. There are miracles waiting to happen, but you’ve got to look up to see them happen.
Change your direction. It’s time for a direction change. The children of Israel were told not to go back but to go forward. Neither going back, nor staying put were options. Faith is a formative process. It is dynamic, not static. We are called to a higher level, a new place. This is where the importance of being flexible comes into play. However, if we’re honest, we don’t like giving up control. Sometimes, we don’t like passing the ball. Maybe you’ll need to remind yourself that change isn’t bad, it’s just different. Change is part of growth.
Let’s learn to master the pivot, not just for a moment, but living with one foot planted and one foot raised, ready for the next progression.