Our Life: A Rubik's Cube

Today was Christmas and this year we did things a little differently. This year Hannah and Melody both had to work today; Hannah from 7am to 7pm and Melody from 4:30 to 7:00. So, in order to have Christmas morning with Hannah, we all got up at the ungodly hour of 5:30am to open our stockings. Most of the things were the traditional things we always get in our stockings: orange (don’t ask me why – I don’t know), a random picture frame, a devotional, socks, etc.). This year, however, me and my brother-in-law, Jared, both got Rubik’s cubes.

Waking up at 5:30 like little kids on Christmas morning does something to you. I’m really not sure what it is. I just know that it has to do something to you. Because for the past 4 months I have been surrounded by guys who for some reason love to walk around with Rubik’s cubes, but until this morning I’ve never been really interested in solving one myself. That quickly changed as I inhaled my coffee this morning. After Hannah left to go to work everyone else went back to bed for a few more hours of precious sleep. Well, everyone except for Jared and me. While my parents and sisters were back in bed dreaming of sugar plumbs (or whatever they dream about on Christmas morning), me and Jared were at war with a guy named Rubik and his stupid little cube. We twisted and pushed and rotated those little cubes only to realize that after two hours we had gotten nowhere. Finally we looked it up online. That helped a little, but it still took us the entire day to finish less than half and we currently have no idea what to do next.

As I was driving back from dropping Melody off at work today, I felt like my life was kind of like a Rubik’s cube that I keep trying to solve. Rubik’s cubes come solved; you have to mess up the cubes in order to start the puzzle/game/whatever. Thus, we know that it can be solved, it can be made perfectly symmetrical and color-coded. But once we mess up those cubes it’s a totally different monster. We know it’s theoretically possible, we’ve even seen it solved, but while we’re wrestling with the colors the only thought in our head is, “This is absolutely, totally, completely impossible.” But we could hand it to somebody that has learned how to solve the puzzle and they could fix it on the spot for you. That is why I feel like my life is similar to a Rubik’s cube. When God made human beings, he made us perfect, without sin. But our pride got in the way and we blew it. Ever since I can remember I have wrestled with sin in my life. I know that it is theoretically possible to live a life of perfection. After all, Jesus did. But it seems like all I’m doing is just messing up the cubes of my life more and more. Just when I think I’ve got a whole side of my life figured out, I move a cube and upset the whole puzzle of life. The reason for this: I don’t know how to solve the Rubik’s cube of life. I’m not even able to look up cheats for it online. God, on the other hand, knows a thing or two about life and living. After all, creating life was His idea in the first place. My point is, life is about whose hands you are allowing to control and move you: yours or God’s.

Another thing about Rubik’s cubes: it usually has to get more confusing and more mixed up before it comes together for good. Well, it’s confusing and frustrating to people like me who have no idea what they are doing. To those that have mastered the cube, it isn’t confusing at all. They move each cube and row with a specific purpose. The untrained observer (or participant) sees mayhem and chaos, but the trained eye sees his plan working beautifully to accomplish his goal. There are times in our lives when we feel like everything is working out the way we want it to and then all of the sudden something shifts, everything changes, and we’re left pulling out our hair trying to figure out why things went bad. We need to look at the big picture. God is molding and shaping our lives, shifting things around, rotating people and places until we are finally sanctified before His throne. It will most likely get messy before it looks pretty. But that’s the beauty of it. Stop spinning the cube of your life and hand it over to God, I’m pretty sure He knows what He’s doing.

-Jeremy