Life's a Cube!

It was the great Philosopher Socrates who once said, “ Unexamined life is not worth living.”

Many people nowadays are living a shallow, empty, unrewarded and meaningless life which can be traced to a low self- esteem, poor and defeated view of themselves. So it is imperative that they examine their own lives for them to live their lives to the fullest.

One way of knowing one’s self is to employ tool that interests us. For the the purpose of seeing one's self and at the same time the object of reflection, we use the Rubik’s cube, the most popular puzzle toy in the world. The process of solving the cube using algorithm can also be used as process of gradually discovering ourselves. We all know that change is gradual, step by step, little by little, brick by brick. This is what I am going to present to my students to discover themselves in a new perspective since they are much interested to play with this toy. I believe that by spiritualizing the cube—solving the puzzle—they may be able to put Christ at the center of their lives.


1. There are various approaches in putting the different colors together on each side of the cube. One of the ways I’ve learned is to start with the cross forming it at the down face of the cube.




Lesson:

The cross represents Jesus. It is through the cross that Christ saved us. And if we want to put order to our chaotic life, we must put Jesus at the center of it.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.( I Corinthians 1:18)
2. After making the cross, we should again perform some twists and turns for the various colors to gradually put them together on the cube’s first layer. While in the process of doing it, the cross at the bottom disappears and that face becomes complete and the first layer is also done.





Lesson:

If we wanted to effect change in our life, we have to make the necessary twists/turns. The twists and turns are the things we do to improve the different aspects of our life. The aspects of spirituality, community, academic, personality, relationship and social life need to have an equal attention. Some areas need 45 degree turn; other areas need 90 or 180 degree turn. We cannot just focus on one area and expect other areas to grow by themselves. Turn to Jesus and He will gradually change the circumstances in every aspect of your life in your favor.

3. The next step is to make the right moves to fix the second layer of the cube.


Lesson:

Change will not happen overnight, it takes time to mature physically, spiritually, morally. We need to have determination, courage, and the backbone to transform our lives. We may make mistakes and wrong decisions but God is willing to forgive us if we ask for it, then we keep on moving forward thinking that God is always with us in our journey.

4. If you're done, the next is forming a cross again at the upper face of the cube. We may encounter the figure of a tank or fish while making the twists and turns. We can turn the tank figure into a cross or fish to complete the upper face.

Lesson:

Another twists and turns are to be made to better achieve our goal and to see great improvement in our life. We have to be consistent, determined and focused. We may face failures, discouragement, and pressures along the way but we trust God’s words. We put the figure of the cross again at the center of our life.

Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. (Revelation 22:15)

The tank figure can be understood as problems, frustrations, disappointments but we can offer all of these to Jesus. He will turn our sorrows into joy, sadness to gladness, and poverty to prosperity.

5. To complete the process of solving the cube we make the last steps towards achieving the goal of putting each color together on each face of the cube.

Lesson:

We should continue believing what God can do to our life. Even though we make mistakes, we backslide, we can easily return to his loving arms if we choose to.

So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in
in God that it will happen just as he told me.

Acts 27:25


Shared by Raul Paras during the
Seminar on Innovative Teaching Strategies