The heart is the most common shape when it comes to love. However, as I ponder on the nature of love with all its ups and downs, I cannot help but be drawn to the circle. It is the shape of a ring, after all, which we put around the fourth finger to signify a marriage covenant. It is also the shape that adorns the sky every day and every night, promising hope that there will still be a new day; and that there will still be another night. It is the shape when members of a family or a team hold each other’s hands together; the shape our arms make when we hold someone in an embrace.
When reading the Bible, one can’t help but muse that the circle is found in many instances. It is the shape of protection as “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them” Psalm 34:7; the shape of deliverance mentioned in Psalm 32:7: “You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.” It is the shape of accountability as the great cloud of witnesses surround us in Hebrews 12:1-2. And it is the shape of God’s fire upon His covenant people, Israel: “ ‘For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst’” (Zech.2.5).
I love that Israel marched around Jericho before Jericho fell—a prophetic gesture securing Israel’s inheritance as hers! And last but not the least, I am in awe that the shape of a circle crowned the head of our Savior, who said with His last words on the cross: “It is finished.”
The circle, therefore, has become to me the shape of victory— the shape that indeed, Heaven has touched earth.
And now, when I look up at the sky and see the round sun or the moon, I have an added perspective—like a sweet secret— of God’s love for me that goes on and on and on in a never-ending circle. I even stand on planet earth—a planet that is not square but round! Yes, I stand on His love and victory!
We may find more meanings for a circle, some maybe out-of-the-box and uniquely personal and amusing. Since life is meant to be about our precious Savior, I find Him tying the ends of history—as if in a circle— with these very enlightening words: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” Rev.22:13.
Whatever phase we are in our lives right now, may we remember that we have a God who is eternal and who surrounds us with His love, promises, hope, and victory. Undeniably, He encircles us with HIMSELF!
Janina Marie Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of One Voice Magazine, a teacher of world literature, and a student of the Bible. She enjoys reflecting on life’s curve balls and plateaus. She resides in the Philippines, the country known for people who smile a lot.
