Trying To Fit a Square Peg in a Round Hole

There have been a few times in my life that I was working on a project and something started to go wrong. It could have been a screw head was starting to strip to left over parts to pieces not fitting properly. The project may cosmetically look correct, even be structurally sound, but not ideally be put together.

When constructing those projects, frustration followed because of the lack of fluidity in the construction process. Sometimes pushing or pounding harder has been the result. Sometimes these methods worked. Sometimes it made things worse. Sometimes it simply didn't make a difference.

When it comes to some people's religious views and/or their faith, there are instances where they may feel they are putting a square peg in a round hole. They may become frustrated because the square peg doesn't seem to work out the way they think it should. In frustration, they want to keep trying to put that square peg in that round hole. One of three things will happen as a result: 1) The peg will splinter and make it through, 2) the peg will not fit, or 3) the peg will break and splinter but not fit. This is somewhat the result with one's faith, with the analogy of the square peg.

As Sunday's lesson was about Jesus answering the question of John's disciples from Matthew 9:14-17, here are some applications to choose from to use this week...

• Splintered ~ When you are involved in a religious controversy, you may have an inclination to want to be right. If that desire to be "right" becomes too big, you will simply fight and fight so that the result is what you desire. However the result can be a splintering - that of relationships. Causing these relationships with people or God to never be the same. Not good to force an issue...
• Not Fit ~ Trying to force an issue for the sake of getting the issue, and then it never "fitting" will definitely result in failure. When I think of something that should be right but it never fits correctly, I can become pretty frustrated in the moment. Later on I will mellow, but in the moment is a whole different story. As we have the option to be flexible in a situation, may we try not to force things and let God handle the things that we cannot control.
• Break and Splinter ~ Continuing on the thought process, forcing an issue through a round hole may cause the peg to splinter off and break. This will look like someone trying to push their agenda on a particular area and things get worse. The result is detrimental to the individual and many around them. They can force an issue so much this result will cause lots of problem.

May we think about what we are encountering in life as we need to be flexible with the new wine that is added into wine skins - make sure the wine skins are new, as well.

Now it's your turn...What have you encountered that was difficult for someone to remain to be flexible with something new, so they don't have to "burst?"