Of Square Pegs and Round Holes
We have two shape sorters in our toy stash from when John, Bethany, and Mary Evelyn were little. One is the roundish red and blue one from Tupperware® and the other one is by Fisher Price®. Anyone watching a baby when he first starts to play with one of these knows how well babies illustrate the old saying about trying to put a square peg in a round hole. It just can’t be done.
Anyone who has lived very long has made mistakes — and maybe many mistakes — trying to put a variety of “square pegs” into a variety of “round holes.” Homeschooling mamas are pretty prone to doing that. I know I did when I tried to fit a “square” math program into our “round” daughter just because that “square” math program had worked so well for her older brother.
Sometimes folks have a hard time accepting that the world is a better place because people aren’t all round — or square. Modern folks aren’t the only folks who have had a hard time accepting that. That’s why Paul used the differences in various parts of our physical bodies to describe the differences between people in the church:
For the body is not one member, but many.
If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand,
I am not a part of the body,”
it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.
And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye,
I am not a part of the body,”
it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be?
If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
But now God has placed the members,
each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.
If they were all one member, where would the body be?
But now there are many members, but one body.
And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”;
or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
1 Corinthians 12:14-21
Evidently by the time of King Solomon, folks had expectations about whether something was typically round or square, as seen in this description of stands made for the temple.
Its opening inside the crown at the top was a cubit,
and its opening was round like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half;
and also on its opening there were engravings,
and their borders were square, not round.
1 Kings 7:31
While we were walking around Carmel a week ago yesterday, we saw a donut shop called Square Donuts that is capitalizing on the fact that something a little bit different from what everyone expects makes that something special.
Therefore, accept one another,
just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.
Romans 15:7