If 2020 and 2021 have taught us nothing else, they have taught us how to pivot. We have had to change directions and courses again and again. Events have been postponed, only to be postponed again, and we have all learned the art of being flexible.
Some of us have gone into this season of learning kicking and screaming. Others seem to adjust rather well.
For me, it’s been a mixture, I suppose. Some things have been easy to let go of, and to be honest, I’ve even felt a sense of relief in the letting go. Other changes have left me trying to hold on for dear life to the old ways, believing that the way I’ve been doing it in the past is the one and only way it should be done.
Yet here I sit a year and a half into this worldwide pandemic, and I find myself still wrestling with all the changes. Some days I simply don’t want to pivot.
But God is showing me over and over again that sometimes the way things were aren’t the way they should remain. Some things need to be changed.
As I ponder this, I can’t help but think about the Sadducees and Pharisees. They were rigid, set in their ways, and they were definitely not open to change. When this rebel with a cause, Jesus, came and tried to turn things upside down, they didn’t like it one bit. The old system filled with animal sacrifices, rules, and hierarchy was fine with them, thank you very much!
Yet Jesus was asking them to do a 180-degree pivot, to turn away from everything they had been taught about how their sins would be forgiven through legalistic sacrifices and embrace a new sacrificial system…Jesus himself. This was radical and different and would change everything for them, including their status among the Jews.
I’m in a season in my own life where God is asking me to let go of my old ideas of what my ministry has looked like in the past and pivot to the new model He is laying out before me. It’s weird. It’s different. It’s scary. And some of the projects He is leading me to are definitely outside of my comfort zone!
Some days I’m very excited about the new opportunities that are emerging, and I even feel a renewed sense of excitement and joy.
Other days I don’t want things to change and find myself wishing things were back to the way they were.
But just like the legalistic system the Sadducees and Pharisees didn’t want to let go of, I have to ask myself, was the “way things were” really that great?
Is it worth the effort it’s taking on my part to dig my feet in and resist the new wind the Holy Spirit is breathing into my life and the new direction I’m being pushed to go?
Am I hanging on to an old pattern so hard that it’s keeping me from seeing the beautiful new tapestry God is weaving right before my eyes?
Am I trading the idea of comfort in repetition for the possibility of transformation in something innovative and new?
How about you, my friend? Are you willing to pivot when God asks you to?
We are creatures of habit. No doubt about it. We like things to stay the same because we find comfort in repetition.Yet the reality is, if everyone settled for status quo, we would never move forward.
I am doing something brand new, something unheard of. Even now it sprouts and grows and matures. Don’t you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19 (TPT)
Creation didn’t end after those first seven days. God is still creating and changing our world, and oftentimes He does that through ordinary people like you and me. He puts ideas and dreams inside His children and then watches with delight as they bring them to life, with a little help (okay, a lot of help!) from His mighty hand.
I believe it’s up to us to not fight Him in the process and make the decision that we will always be willing to pivot when He tells us to. To be willing to take those leaps of faith when asked.
Whether we like change or not, we absolutely can learn how to pivot when we put our minds and our wills in God’s creative hands!
Hugs and love,
Jill