In 1974 Erno Rubik invented the all-known popular Rubik’s cube, also known as the “Magic Cube”. The cube was originally created for the understanding of 3D objects, but today over 350 million cubes have been sold worldwide as nothing less than a simple kid’s toy. What made this simple cube so popular? Is it the impossible seeming challenge that one ends up throwing across the room at the many failed attempts? Is it the feeling one gets after knowing they have mastered the Rubik’s cube and makes them feel superior to others? Or, is it simply because once this task is completed, one feels successful? But the next time you have a Rubik’s cube in front of you, let me challenge you to think of it in a different light!
Last year my roommate and I became determined to solve this sticker covered plastic cube if it meant sacrificing hours of study time. =) And trust me it did. I remember my roommate getting it pretty quickly and being able to remember the sequence of turns in which to make all 6 sides’ solid colors, but it took me longer to grasp such a concept and to this day I still have to look at the cheat sheet in order to solve such madness. As I was doing my quiet time today I was asked/ challenged to compare my life to something, and have now been Erno Rubik inspired. The first thing I could compare my life to was a toy, I know it’s so complex, LOL (I guess that is why I am a children’s director).
Anyway, I remember when I was a child and my sister and I were sitting in the back of our beastly gray van that we named Ralph, and I had just gotten a Rubik’s cube for my birthday and I was determined to solve it before we reached our destination…AND I GOT IT!!!!! Okay, I peeled off all of the stickers and put them in their rightful location, but my parents were sooooo impressed that their child prodigy solved such a confusing puzzle. That was until my mom took a closer look and saw that the stickers had been tampered with, and my mouth was washed out with soap for lying. TOTALLY WORTH IT!!! Just kidding. Children, don’t lie to your parents, they know all or will figure it out! My mom mixed all of the sides back up and to this day it is sitting on my shelf at home unsolved. However, I could solve it now with my step by step guide, but wouldn’t be worth ruining the memory.
As I was thinking about how this toy represented my life, my first thought was what was on the inside of such a sculpture. In the center there is a pivot like mechanism that allows the cubes on it to move, however there are 6 cubes that never change and they are on the middle of each side. Yellow, Blue, Orange, Red, White, and Green are the colors that make up the cube and the object is to obviously get all 6 sides one color. There are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible positions of a rubik’s cube with only 1 position of each cube that is possible to SOLVE it! With that many possible positions, no wonder my parents knew I was lying when I told them I solved it. LOL
I have always wanted to live my life as God intended me to as His daughter. Being a child of God holds its responsibilities and rewards, and many times we can get caught on what we get rather than what God has called us to do as a responsibility. I want to live my life with Christ at the center, like a Rubik’s cube, I want Christ to be my pivoting point! No matter how many turns and decisions I will make through out life I want to make sure that one foot is firmly rooted in Christ. I want that to be the number one factor in making decisions and I want that to be my main focus in life. The 6 sides I would describe as Scripture(Green), Reason(Yellow), Experience(Orange), Culture (Blue), Tradition (White), and Others (Red). Four of those you might recognize as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, and I include those because those are important in my life.
Scripture allows us to grow, many times we associate the color green with growth because it represents the changing of seasons with death in winter to life in spring. As a follower of Christ, God calls us to His word. To read His word, to share His word, and to hide His word in our hearts. It is our guide as we strive to be like Christ. It is our responsibility to read God’s word so we can grow in this in order to help others grow. Another side is reason, which I would associate with the color yellow. Yellow is a primary color and cannot be “made” by mixing colors together. The same is with reason, it cannot be made, and it is what we know to be reasonable within ourselves. However, that doesn’t mean what we think is reasonable is the same as what others perceive as reasonable. It’s simply rational thinking and sensible interpretation to what we know and have been taught through many facets.
I represent those around me with the color red. Red is the universal color for love. God calls us to love the people of the WORLD as He has loved us. This is not just those we personally know and love, but the 6,905,720,135 people in the world. This is the chance we are given to view the world in God’s eyes, without judgment, without an agenda, without jealousy, but with pure Christ-filled love. Orange represents experience. It’s the occurrences and situations of our lives that allow our eyes to be open to view the things that are happening all around us. It’s getting in and getting your hands dirty. It’s being there for one another and gaining insight from everything we do. It’s serving.
Tradition, I would represent with the white. It’s what is what we have grown to always known since we were created. This is what contributes to our understanding of the things around us. It is authentic, it’s transparent, it’s white. Finally is culture, which would be represented by blue. With reason and others mixed together you get culture. It is a sensible interpretation that we are called to love those around us, which creates our culture. Culture can have a multitude of meaning for different people, but I view it as the time and place God has created us and placed us at this very moment of time. I have lived in and through many different types of cultures, but I know that I am where God has called me to be in at this moment in time.
Scripture, Reason, Tradition, Culture, Others, and Experience…it all comes back to one…GOD
While these sides are not easy to define, and everyone has different sides, I would challenge you to define your pivot point. What makes up who you are? What do you live by? And who do you live for? Your sides will be different than mine, and it will look different to others, because God all created us with uniqueness, but He wants us to have the same pivot point, so no matter what our sides may be or how many positions we may view or hold, we will all have Christ at the center of our lives. Our pivotal point in which we can have one foot on at all times!
