Whose Square Are You?

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Years ago a close friend of mine asked me to consider what kind of tool in God’s toolbox I might actually be. He compared himself to a compass, something that shows the way, a role he has played in my life frequently off and on over the last seven years. While I am not exactly sure that this is my final answer, one of the tools that often crosses my mind is a carpenter’s square. Those who know me may chuckle a bit at this for their own reasons, which I leave to them. One of them once called me the squarest person he had ever met.

Carpenters use a square for two reasons that I understand. First, it is used as a reliable straight edge. In addition to having a linear ability to make things straight, it also helps you square up the corners. Secondly, the square also has a ruler, so that you know approximately how far you are from your goal or what kind of distance is required to make the cut. The square helps make sure that things line up where they need to be to make things flush and flat and fair, because otherwise it not only looks unsightly but may not come together, making all the other work in vain.

Recently, I worked on a project with my father that required us to use a special kind of square that he fashioned. By that time, we had planed, sanded, cut, joined, routed, and done all other kinds of work to the wood. When it came time to put the frame of the pocket doors together, it was extremely important that they all line up and do so at the same time, or else all our other work might be wasted. Small bows in the wood and errors in cutting were overcome by the proper application of pressure. The frame looks amazing, but it’s not perfect. It was made by a fighter pilot and a chemistry professor, not by professional carpenters.

They say that the only difference between a professional and an amateur is that one of them is paid.

In our carpentry, my father and I came prepared to tolerate a certain degree of fudge factor. You reach a point after which the cost to align things perfectly outstrips the return that you can expect looking at it. After all, most people won’t notice that, and if they do, that says more about them than it says about my work building it. This tolerance means that nothing I build is perfectly square.

That’s really the bottom line. Nothing built by man is perfectly square. Men are flawed, and it is not theoretically possible for anything to create something more perfect than the creator. I find the fascination with artificial intelligence and evolution fascinating because it ignores the law that entropy always increases. Even Asimov acknowledges that in his novels. My efforts already put useful work into the wood that made it more organized than before, but without a continued and consistent investment, the wood of which it is made will fade, dull, crack, and eventually decompose. It will not evolve into an elephant.

We try to be square, and we try to line up, but ultimately, the Master Carpenter is the only one who can fashion a contraption to make us more perfect than we are today. I am honored and humbled to be useful to Him as that particular instrument, and I thank Him for His tolerance of my imperfections as I am not the best tool in His toolbox. In those times, I think of this quote from Neal Maxwell: “God gives the picks and shovels to the ‘chosen’ because they are willing to go to work and get callouses on their hands. They may not be the best or the most capable, but they are the most available.” I am here. I am trying to make His paths straight. I hope that my sacrifice will be acceptable to Him.

Who's square are you? Whose paths are you trying to make straight? No matter how well-meaning and compassionate they may seem, most people are intolerant and selfish until and unless they begin with first principles and value individuals and their rights over the so-called "masses". They want to be regarded as individuals; they must show the same decorum to you. I know that it can be hard to be a Don Quixote, but the successful quixotic quest is one in which you learn to enjoy the ride while you charge. It's easier to enjoy when you begin with everything in line.