“Axis Granted” – A United Church of Christ StillSpeaking Daily Devotional by The Rev. Kaji Douša

I keep the Holy One always before me; because God is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. – Psalm 16:8 (NRSV, adapted) 

While watching the Winter Olympics, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole. I wanted to understand what it is that makes a great figure skater. Here’s what I learned: when a skater is on their axis, when their body weight is exactly where it is supposed to be, they can jump and land strong.

But in a split second, we’ve all seen it: something can pull them off their axis. Their center shifts just enough, and gravity does what it does.

Our lives can be like that, too. 

A lot of times, we don’t get pulled off center all at once. Pressure slowly reshapes us. Like the pressure to live up to someone else’s expectations. To overdeliver. To keep carrying what God never asked us to hold in the first place. To bend ourselves to the point of breaking … just to survive.

The psalmist says, “I keep the Holy One always before me.”

I want that. Because it’s alignment. It helps us to come back to center.

Sometimes turning from God isn’t dramatic. Sometimes it’s just me fighting myself. Getting in my head. Losing my balance. Drifting from God’s voice toward all the other voices trying to define me.

But when God has us steady, when God is at our right hands, we don’t have to let pressure knock us down. We can stop letting pressure decide what only God should.

Maybe that’s the invitation: enough. Enough letting anything other than God pull you off your axis. Come back to center. The Holy One is closer than you think.

Prayer

Holy One, when pressure pulls me off my axis, bring me back to center. Help me stop fighting myself and return to your truth in steadiness. Amen.