Iron and Stone
"As iron sharpens iron, so does one sharpen another." This come from the bible in the book of Proverbs, Chapter 27, verse 17. If you aren't familiar with Proverbs the whole book is little snippets of wise words like this. This verse in particular is a favorite of church groups and Bible studies. The meaning of it is summed up as help each other, when times are rough and you are feeling weak lean on your friends and family and let them help you in the same way help someone else that is struggling.
This verse has been on my mind lately For those of you that know me know I'm a fan of knives and I have very large selection. For me they are not just things to collect but tools to use. Because they are tools and the are used daily they need to be maintained. Now when I sharpen them I often spend that time praying; I'll pray for my friends, for people I pass throughout the day, and for the world as a whole. While I was doing that I was thinking "Iron Sharpens Iron" but I'm not using iron to sharpen my knives. While I have used a steel or iron sharpener I only use those to start the process of the blade is badly damaged. I personally favor using a stone because of the sharpness of the edge I can get.
A quick and dirty background to sharpening knives. You have a series of flat stones with different levels of roughness like sandpaper. You sharpen a blade by slowly removing bits of metal starting with the metal file if it's badly damaged then using the stones starting with the rough stone and working your way up to a stone that is very fine almost smooth surface.
The more I thought about it the more I started to realize the symbolism of the it all and had an "ah-ha" moment. "Iron Sharpens Iron." We as people are able to sharpen each other when we need it. We can help get the nics out and get our edge started but we won't get that sharp, we build each other up when we are feeling broken down, but we need that stone to get honed to a razor sharp edge.
For me, my faith is the stone and God is the sharpener. In a similar way that I take care and time to sharpen each of my knives to as perfect as an edge as I can get. God takes me and slowly, thoughtfully and carefully, runs me over a stone taking little damaged bits from me and grinds them away. This can be painful and difficult for us to lose those parts. The more time we spend getting sharpened the smaller the bits are that we lose and the less painful it is. God keeps working on us making us the most effective tool for his mission. When we are sharpened to a razor sharp edge he doesn't stop. He sharpens us again because as humans we get dull very quickly, I know at least I do but I am very thankful I have a craftsman that won't give up and will spend every second of my life sharpening me.
This verse has been on my mind lately For those of you that know me know I'm a fan of knives and I have very large selection. For me they are not just things to collect but tools to use. Because they are tools and the are used daily they need to be maintained. Now when I sharpen them I often spend that time praying; I'll pray for my friends, for people I pass throughout the day, and for the world as a whole. While I was doing that I was thinking "Iron Sharpens Iron" but I'm not using iron to sharpen my knives. While I have used a steel or iron sharpener I only use those to start the process of the blade is badly damaged. I personally favor using a stone because of the sharpness of the edge I can get.
A quick and dirty background to sharpening knives. You have a series of flat stones with different levels of roughness like sandpaper. You sharpen a blade by slowly removing bits of metal starting with the metal file if it's badly damaged then using the stones starting with the rough stone and working your way up to a stone that is very fine almost smooth surface.
The more I thought about it the more I started to realize the symbolism of the it all and had an "ah-ha" moment. "Iron Sharpens Iron." We as people are able to sharpen each other when we need it. We can help get the nics out and get our edge started but we won't get that sharp, we build each other up when we are feeling broken down, but we need that stone to get honed to a razor sharp edge.
For me, my faith is the stone and God is the sharpener. In a similar way that I take care and time to sharpen each of my knives to as perfect as an edge as I can get. God takes me and slowly, thoughtfully and carefully, runs me over a stone taking little damaged bits from me and grinds them away. This can be painful and difficult for us to lose those parts. The more time we spend getting sharpened the smaller the bits are that we lose and the less painful it is. God keeps working on us making us the most effective tool for his mission. When we are sharpened to a razor sharp edge he doesn't stop. He sharpens us again because as humans we get dull very quickly, I know at least I do but I am very thankful I have a craftsman that won't give up and will spend every second of my life sharpening me.
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