Saturday, January 03, 2009

the Rubik's Cube Lesson

Yes, it's been awhile. Things have been busy. I haven't been very good at keeping up the blog lately. Right now I'm working the 10 hour shift days at work in the month of January... so if you think of me... say a little prayer as I'm not especially looking forward to this month.
And in other news, I'm turning 30 this month. Hmm. 30. Weird. When I was a kid, I had lots of ideas of what my life would like at 30.

Anyway, I had a weird moment tonight. Tara Lynn (my roomie) went to bed early because she wasn't feeling well and I thought I might read a book and go to bed early too. But instead, I picked up a Rubik's cube. I guess I wasn't ready to sleep. After unsuccessfully working on it... I decided to look for tips online. I visited several sites... but none of them were very helpful. I was getting ready to put it down and call it a night when I saw another site. So I go to this site where it tells you to enter in the configuration of your cube... and it calculates the moves you need to make to solve the Rubik's cube. Ha. I thought I'd give it a whirl and see if it actually worked. So I fill in the blanks and the hit "solve". Ok... so then it tells me that I have 108 moves I need to make. 108 moves. Awesome. So I carefully begin to follow the step-by-step moves. Keep in mind, I've had a long day... and I'm kinda in this half-awake mode.
I get to about Step 26 and I'm thinking : what the heck am i doing? I hate Rubik's cubes. I should be going to bed and sleeping. No. I want to see if this works.


Step 35: I think this might be working. Cool. Only 73 more steps to go.
Step 50: Why am I doing this? 108 freakin steps? What's wrong with me? I'm wasting time.
Step 52: Did I mess up? Did I make one of the moves wrong? This just looks like a freakin jumbled mess.
Step 54: This website is probably just somebody's idea of a joke and they get bored idiots like me to fall for it... sitting here... carefully counting step by step. This is ridiculous.
Step 55: Over half-way there. But what if I messed up? Keep going. Pay attention.
Step 65: I just want to see this cube with solid colors on all sides for once.
Step 66: I'm not built for puzzles like this... I can't do this thing on my own.
Step 76: Hey, I think it's working!
Step 80: 3 sides look almost complete... but the rest still looks like a freakin mess.
Step 81: Is this what You do God? How many steps are there in my life? When all I can see is a bunch of different colors... and confusion... are You really solving the puzzle? Is this really working?
Step 87: All I have to do is follow Your steps?
Step 88: If I screw up on one now... then that will mess it all up. Pay attention. I don't want to start over.
Step 98: Still looks like a mess... I don't think it's working.
Step 103: Nope. Definitely not working.
Step 106: Wait... it might be...
Step 107: Maybe...
Step 108: Holy crap. It worked. Dang. That was ridiculous.
Step 109: Hmm, pretty sure God just taught me something through a freakin Rubik's cube.

So, God used a Rubik's cube to teach me a life lesson tonight. I'm not the type of person to put a spiritual context on everything... but I did learn something tonight. I'm 20 days away from my 30th birthday and my life is not what I expected it to be at this stage in the game. There's lots of different colors all over... on all sides... and I'm not real sure what goes where or how or when. I'm not made for figuring out puzzles like this on my own. I'm not sure how my hopes and dreams and passions and desires and abilities and talents and colors work together. I don't know how to make them come together and solve this puzzle called life... specifically the job side of life. But He does. And all He asks of me is to follow each step... one... by... one. It wouldn't work any other way. He has to get you to one place in life before He can move you up to another.
One thing I noticed as I was working on this thing: you had to get the piece or color that you wanted on the top.... you had to get it on the very bottom first. And then twist and turn and then... there it is... on the top. We have to be willing to be moved around... even when it doesn't look right or make sense to our heads.... as long as we hear God's voice directing us... that's what's important. It's through His steps that He will make sense of our lives. And if we mess up... He knows how to fix things. He knows how to solve the puzzle and make everything come together. Not only the things in my life and your life... but everything in everyone's life... and everything in the entire heaven and earth. I wonder how many steps that is? Probably a lot more than 108. I'm so glad we don't have to figure any of it out... we just have to follow His instructions.

Ephesians 1:9-11 (New Living Translation)
God has now revealed to us His mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill His own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan.

So, Happy New Year to you.
And Happy Birthday to me.