Life is Like a Rubik's Cube

My column for the local paper this week. Here's a copy for those of you that live far away.

Life Is Like A Rubik’s Cube

Rubik’s Cubes are making a comeback.

I don’t know if that’s true nationwide, but I see a lot of kids with Rubik’s Cubes when I substitute at our High School. There are the classic ones that I remember from the early 80s as well as new variations, from small, 4x4 Cubes to all kinds of different sizes and shapes (Rubik’s Octagons? Tetrahedrons? I’m not sure what they’re called.)

I remember playing with a Rubik’s Cube when I was a kid and trying to figure out how to solve it. There were books written to help guide you into trying to understand the algorithms needed to get all of the colors together. I never could figure out how to do it, short of peeling off the stickers and putting them back on - which wrecks the cube, but by that point you’re too frustrated with the stupid thing to care!

My good friend Evan Olson, who is in seventh grade, is a pro at solving them. He even demonstrated for me solving a Rubik’s Cube with his eyes closed! How he did that still baffles me. All I know is that if I get my hands on a Cube and need help – which I no doubt will – he is the first person I’ll go to for guidance.

It strikes me that our lives are, at least in some ways, like a Rubik’s Cubes. It’s easy to get twisted around and messed up. So you try to back up and retrace your steps to put everything back into order, but you just end up more twisted up and confused. You keep trying and trying to solve the mess you’ve gotten yourself into, but you end up just getting more and more frustrated and more and more messed up. You might even try to cheat, which only ends up wrecking your life more.

We’ve all been there.

It’s not until we’re willing to admit that we need help and that we are unable to solve our problems ourselves that we can get the guidance we need. It’s only when we allow others to come alongside that we finally begin to get our lives back into some type of order.

We resist that for some reason. There’s a spirit of fierce independence in us that, unfortunately, often leads to isolation. But that’s not the way we were created to operate. God says that “It is not good for a person to be alone.” We were created for community – to journey together and to help each other.

That’s one of the brilliant things about the Church. Going to church is not about having to go in order to fulfill some religious duty. A big part of what the church is about is finding other people who can walk with us and help us out when we need it. Because we all have times when our lives feel like a messed-up Rubik’s Cube.

Practicing the Art of Showing Up

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.”

    - James Clear, Atomic Habits

You don't have to do everything... just do something.

What are you doing?

Looking back on 2023

[This is from part of my challenge at church this morning.]

I think it's interesting how we characterize and categorize years - like they have their own personality and are good or bad years. 

I was trying to think of years that stand out to me personally. 

1966. That was the year Star Trek came out and the year I was born. Both very memorable and important to me. Good year!

1984. I graduated high school and headed off to college. We had economic prosperity in our country and great 80s music and styles. For me, I would say that was a good year.

2001. We had 9/11 happen, so we tend to characterize the whole year by that and say it was bad year. 

2013. That was the year I started out as a full-time pastor at First Presbyterian Pine City. It was a good year for me. Hopefully my congregation would agree.

2020. I don’t even need to talk about it. Bad year.

What about last year, 2022? There were lots of global and national challenges, but a lot of individuals still had a good year. A mix of good and bad. Pretty typical for a year. 

One thing all of those years have in common – they’re all in the past. You can’t change them now.

But 2023 is just starting. It’s full of potential and possibility.

So my question is: How will you categorize 2023 in 12 months when you look back on it?

We can’t control most of the circumstances of our lives. Good and bad things are going to happen to us throughout the year. But one of the things we do have some control over is the person we are becoming. 

At the end of 2023, you will not be the same person you are today. You will have had experiences and relationships that will shape you, for better or for worse. Maybe you will have developed some new practices that will develop into habits.

There are a lot of areas where we can grow and improve this year: physically, intellectually, relationally and so on. But I hope you don't neglect of think about your spiritual growth. 

Spend some time reflecting on how you want to grow spiritually this year. If you are a Jesus-follower, your goal is to draw closer to Jesus and to become more like him. How can you do that this year? What is a step you might take this week? Today?

Hopefully in 12 months you can look back and say 2023 was a great year.