In need of sharpening

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

As iron sharpeneth iron, so one man sharpeneth the countenance of another - Prov. 27:17 KJV

We began a weekly lunchtime Bible discussion amongst the office staff and a few others at lunch today.  Everyone (well, most everyone...I was on vacation and missed the submission) turned in verses to discuss; we'll be doing journaling on those verses on our own and then discussing them in the group on a weekly basis.

But, today being the first day, we didn't have verses ready to discuss, so our designated organizer, Miss Betty, put the above verse on the marker board of our conference/lunch room for us to discuss.

We had some really good discussion, and I had a bit of an epiphany about being sharpened that I shared.  Of course,  I knew it was blog material too... ;-)

I found myself pondering  the concept of sharpening and thinking of implements such as spades and shovels and such that my dad used for various tasks on the farm.  And I realized that there are two reasons why those tools would need to be sharpened.

The first reason was that it had been used and used and had become blunted with use.  Then it was in need of re-edging, refinishing, renewing.

The other reason was that it had been unused for so long that the edge had gotten rusty, dull and oxidized.  It had to be re-edged and restored before it would be usable.

I remember my dad cleaning his spade and shovel after use, brushing the edges down and then...he would stick them in a 5 gallon  bucket of used motor oil to prevent rust from forming.  I even remembered the thick  smell of the old oil.

It didn't matter how long the tools were unused if they were left in the oil...they wouldn't rust.  They would remain ready for use.

And this was my epiphany...so long as we're submerged in the oil of the Spirit, we'll stay sharp and ready for use.   Then the only sharpening we'll need is that which comes after hard use...cleaning, brushing and re-edging.

Made me wonder how well I'm staying submerged in the oil myself...