Getting through my day with the help of a "Rubik's Cube"...

Who will join me on a quest for "right living"? I need it and if you could use some help to get through your day, then allow me to use a Rubik's Cube to show you how!

Do you remember or even know this ever popular colorful toy? It has a way of getting all muddled up and it can take quite a while to get it resolved and sorted again. Some people can resolve this cube in a matter of minutes, but for others it takes a whole lot longer. There is a system to this seeming madness and I had been exploring it for a while, when it occurred to me, that life - my life - seems to resemble a Rubik's Cube! Curious? Then accompany me on a few moments of "pondering" here...

At the beginning of my life, I probably resembled the little cube on the right. Perfectly sorted and ready for school. Eager to learn new things in life. At that time, I did not know yet that we have an enemy. But if you take this cube and show it to any group of children, you will find them screaming - "Can I mess it up, pleeeze?" Everyone seems to just want to mess these cubes up and occasionally I wonder if the devil might stand at the sight of a newborn child, asking the very same question. Yes, perhaps this seems a little negative, but bear with me for just a little longer! As much as I believe that the devil would love to mess us up, I also believe that God is the Master solver of Human Rubik's Cubes! He can and will straighten out ANY mess...if you let him. All you have to do, is put your life into His hands.

There are three parts to a day - morning, midday and evening - just like there are three layers to a cube. Now, when you start solving a Rubik's Cube you will have to start with the first layer and the first thing you have to set right is the inner cross. I chose the green side as my "morning", so you will see on the picture to the left that my cross is green. Then, only after you have a cross, can you start sorting out the corners. So perhaps quite obviously, the first thing I learnt from this cube is that we should PRAY FIRST before we start our day! I find that once I have gone to the cross, the "corners" of my morning become a whole lot easier to resolve. This first layer of the cube is still fairly easy to resolve and my mornings usually seem quite easy to manage too. But when I leave the house, that's when I sometimes begin to struggle...

After you have completed the bottom layer, it does become a little more complicated and if your intention is to complete the cube (or in my case to get through my day), then you would do best to learn some of the algorithms that are shown in the little manual that comes with the cube. Me personally, I would not be able to complete the middle layer without them, so I did make an effort and learnt them by heart. It paid off. I became much faster at resolving the cube and I realized that the same applies to my life. I believe we are not born into this world randomly, we do have purpose and we do have a manual that gives us the "algorithms" for an easier passage through the journey of our life - the BIBLE. The bible is the manual to all of life's questions and one of my favorite Scriptures is found in Jeremiah 6:16 - "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls." (NIV) So, if you were wondering how to get through the middle of your day, there you go! Stop, pray and do what the bible tells you to do. Read it, if and when you can, so that you will find your answers and eventually learn them by heart. The bible has thousands of perfect algorithms for life and if you follow these ancient paths and keep following Jesus, then you are well on your way to becoming whole. I did and my days have become a whole lot easier!

But we are not finished yet. Having completed the first and the middle layer of the cube (you can see in the picture to the left that I now have two perfect layers of red), you will need to tackle the top layer now. This is "the evening". I suppose it will come as no surprise when I tell you that you have to start with a cross again in order to finish the cube. There is no point in trying to solve the corners if you don't have a cross. It just won't work. I cannot tell you how many times I have desperately tried to finish some incomplete tasks in my day but to no avail. A total overload throughout the day and I just couldn't seem to get finished! But how easily it was then resolved once I spoke to God! He really does want to help us finish our daily tasks! It might seem too easy, but I can assure you it works - take time to talk to God in the morning and at night and throughout the day keep working biblical "algorithms" and the cube (your day and your life) will start looking better and better, but BEWARE...

Just before you solve the Rubik's Cube, when you are busy aligning the last few corner pieces, the cube goes through a phase when it seems to be "totally muddled up" again! The instruction booklet actually warns you not to get distracted by this, as it will resolve itself soon after if you keep going. Wow, I find that so relevant and encouraging! Because how often do we feel completely discouraged just before a major breakthrough?! 1 Peter 5:10 says: "In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation." (NLT) [emphasis added] And that's exactly what is going to happen next! My cube (in the picture above) is only four moves away from being completely restored and perhaps so are you and me. Are you shouting "amen" yet, at least in your mind?! I don't know about you, but it makes my heart jump for joy to know that I can be made whole again and so, at least for today, it will be a bit easier to look at those "muddled up corners" of my life. My record time to restore a Rubik's Cube is 75 seconds and it certainly seems to take a little longer to restore some problem areas in my life. But I believe Jesus has a special heart for muddled up Rubik's Cube people. He wants to help us sort out every piece of our day and our life and I am so grateful that the bible says that God will finish the work that He has started (Phil 1:6).

So, having pondered over the Rubik's Cube for a while now, I have come to the following conclusion: Don't spend time worrying today about all the messy parts in your life...instead give your everyday life to Jesus and know that you too might only be a few moves away from being restored! Jesus is in the business of saving people and you could be His next Rubik's Cube!

Have an AMAZING week!

I am working on a YouTube version of this blog post, so if you would like to see it on video one day, just subscribe to my channel suePONDERS and you will be notified and easily find it when it's there.

(Photos are my own.)

(Just in case you noticed, yes, I did have this post up in August 2012, but I believe it was worthy of re-posting. So this is the new and revised version of it. I hope you liked it!)