THE POWER OF THE PIVOT

When I was in the 7th grade our physical education class included learning to play the game of netball.  Netball, though very similar to American basketball, has some significant differences. The one difference I remember most vividly is that where in basketball the players can run freely and make themselves available anywhere on the court to catch the ball, in netball you must always keep one foot placed on the court after catching the ball.  You are not allowed to dribble with the ball, only to pivot. I found this rule excruciating and difficult to follow.  My legs wanted to move while searching out to whom the ball would be thrown. I wanted to figure out my next move while in motion.  Needless to say, I was never any good at netball as I was unable to master the discipline of pivoting.

The game of life also requires you to engage in the activity of pivoting. Standing in one place, surveying your surroundings and making a decision about your next move based on your observations from a vantage point of stillness.  My grandmother, who raised me, was very skilled in the art of pivoting.  Every week she went to the market and not just purchased the fresh produce needed for that upcoming week, but she was also making careful mental notes about what she noticed was happening to other prices.  If the price of flour or rice was creeping up, she made plans to replace it with a cheaper grain.  If chicken legs were a few cents more, she would opt for the less desirable chicken feet. As an impressionable child, I would watch in wonder at her ability to pivot standing in the middle of the marketplace. 

Life presents us with endless moments when it becomes necessary to pivot but for many of us, it is one of the most difficult activities. Our lives in many ways move forward based on the goals and intentions we set for ourselves. There are many times rigid and inflexible plans get set in the stone of our own desires and expectations. The career we always dreamed of happening based on attendance to a specific college.  The marriage we wanted so deeply that had to adhere to a pre-determined timeline. The ministry opportunity that we felt God spoke into our lives many years ago. When it doesn't happen the way we planned, we are left with two choices; stand still in disappointment...or pivot. Pivoting forces you to intentionally look around at your surroundings before you take action.  It requires you to make a plan and strategize your next move before you make it.  You have to slow down and think.  

But as Christians what should pivoting look like? When the Israelites were caught between the Egyptians and the Red Sea, Moses might also have been caught by surprise. Maybe this was not how he thought it would go. He definitely had heard from God. He then led them out of Egypt against much resistance, and they were on their way to a special place to worship God as well as start their new life. Just when they thought it had all been planned out, the plans appeared to fall apart.  Moses, in that moment, understood that a pivot was necessary and told the people following him to stand still and see how God was going to rescue them.  They were going to have to pivot.  Much like the outcome of their story, so is our story wrapped up in the power of pivoting.  Accepting that there are moments, days even years when the Lord will require us to stop, look to the Him and let him plan our next move. 

As a Christian, pivoting is an act of faith in God's all-knowing-ness.  Trusting the Lord when things don't work out quite as we had planned but confident that He can reframe our next move from the position in which we stand.  Proverbs 16:9 (NLT) We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. The wise saying of this proverb supports the idea of how important it is to recognize the power there is in pivoting. In my journey as a Christian, I have observed the resistance to change when my plans fail. How could things have turned out this way when I heard the Lord speak so clearly to me? I've asked that question more times than I care to admit.  How could my marriage have failed when I sought him so fervently? What is my life now without him? What about the plans we made? The answer is to pivot.  Stand still in your place, survey your surroundings and then seek God for HIS plan.  The Lord is able to redirect your plans, help you to reimagine your dreams, even refurbish your life.  But it will require that you stand in the place where you are and allow God to reveal to you the power of the pivot!

~Nicholine Charles