Bruting and Koinonia part 2

But first..... a quick family update!!!

Schooling is going well.  Mike is also doing well.  He is in yet another new job (doing deliveries for a local printer), and all things considered, it is working out so far.  He will be working full time this week as their other driver is out - so we are going to have to be careful with our evenings so he can get some of the school work he needs to get finished - well - finished.  He is past the mid term point now - and we are still "tweaking" our schedule.  Better late than never.....

Other than that things are good.  I wish there were a way to adequately write the very personal and special ways the Lord has seen fit to meet me over the last 2 weeks or so.  Suffice it to say that after a rather long time of being dry and really searching for reasons, He has seen fit to meet me - without the reasons.  I think one of the things I love the most about our Lord is that when He meets us - He often is so overwhelming in beauty that nothing else matters for awhile.  Everything else fades into the backround.  Not really saying what I want to - can't seem to find the words to express it.  He just IS.  And just a glimpse is so humbling it is just a privilege to bask in His presence.  I want to know Him more.

Bruting and Koinonia...... wow.  I had alluded in the previous post that I have had quite the history with Koinonia.  I have writings of mine from high school (yes - I am one of those kinds of people) where I was exploring Koinonia as a theme.  A better definition of Koinonia is "communion by intimate participation" and the article goes on to say that there is implicated action in the meaning.  In other words - Koinonia is a state of "doing" not a state of "being".  A phrase we use commonly at our church is "doing life together"- this is the essence of koinonia.  From a young age I was telling my mom that I knew Jesus was with me, but what I really wanted was someone "with skin on".  What I didn't realize at that age was the role of the church in being exactly that - Jesus with skin on.  They are the hands and feet of Christ on earth - imperfect absolutely (after all, if I am part of my church, then it is already not perfect, right?), but we represent Him to the world - and to each other.  So - how are you doing with that whole idea?  The idea that we represent Him - that we are His ambassadors?  How have you been representing your Lord recently?  If you are anything like me, it doesn't always go the way I would like.  I really, really misrepresent Him sometimes- and it hurts.  It is an area that I really need to grow in - but it is still the call - perfect or imperfect.  We had a really great sermon today on service at church.  One thing Pastor Bell brought up was the fact that we don't have pure motivations in our serving - but God calls us to serve anyway and trust that He will purify our service.

Coming back to the Koinonia idea again.  Koinonia is not an end in and of itself.  That is something I struggle intensely with.  I love to be loved.  During those "nobody like me everybody hates me" times - those truly lonely times when "no one even calls" - when the isolation feelings set in - when it seems like everyone is getting together "without me" - it is really important to remember that the hands and feet are not actually Christ himself.  Christ is the only one who can meet me the way I need to be met - perfectly and every time.  To put that kind of expectation on a human being - any human being (including Mike - poor Mike.....) is wrong.  It is idolatry.  I have misplaced my worship, and have made the gift that God has given me in the community He has placed me in more important than the giver Himself.

Community - what I have been learning recently?  What it is and isn't.  I am to love my community, pray for them, invest my time and love into them - but it is never to replace Christ in my life.  When my soul is "faint within me" - I need Christ -  not a person.  I need to be honest and transparent about my life, but I can not go around being dependent on people for the strength I need, the grace I need, the love I need.  By realizing the community is made up of human beings - therefore, by default, sinners - I am free to love them without expectation.  It frees me to "put myself out there" not expecting anything in return.  And He has built a beautiful community - a beautiful bride.  There is no where else I would rather be than in my local church body on Sunday morning.  He gives us these bodies - which ever body He has called you to - to be His hands and feet in your life - and His hands and feet to the world.  You have the opportunity to share your life with these people.  To be cared for, challenged, walked with by those in your church.  Do you take advantage of that?  Are you doing Koinonia?  It is a beautiful gift from a beautiful God.

Schooling.....

Checking out for awhile - will update as possible - we are off to quite the school year!!  :)

Bruting - and Koinonia ( κοινωνία ).....

The next step for a diamond is the bruting process.  This was one I was not familiar with before I started this series of posts...


Bruting is the process whereby two diamonds are set onto spinning axles turning in opposite directions, which are then set to grind against each other to shape each diamond into a round shape. This can also be known as girdling.


Diamonds are one of the toughest substances on earth.  In order to cut them you have to use another diamond.  Bruting is a very specific process.  To shape the diamond you use a diamond.  Both diamonds are shaped by the other.  The verse that immediately came to mind was Proverbs 27:17 "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. "  In the 80's there was a song by Glad (didn't realize it was them either until I just looked it up) called "Iron Sharpens Iron" (here goes my music thing again.....).  Here are the lyrics:

Iron Sharpens Iron
Words and Music by Bob Kauflin and Ed Nalle
on Beyond a Star by Glad
Copyright 1980 Dayspring Music


The only lasting love begins with honesty
But don't become discouraged when we disagree
Lies are so appealing when you want to be my friend
But all you'll do is hurt me in the end

Iron sharpens iron
As we get closer there might be pain
Iron sharpens iron
We can never remain the same

If only we have patience while we bear the pain
Holding on, we know our hope is not in vain
For hope is not deceptive when we are not deceived
And the love of God appears when we believe

Every stone for building must be cut to size
And we as living stones must come to realize
To be changed into his likeness there's so much we must be shown
And we were never meant to grow alone

In order for this next part to make sense, I am going to insert another word here that might be familiar to you - Koinonia.  Koinonia, loosely (and not really fully) translated is "community".  It is the Greek word used in Acts when the early church is described as "having everything in common".  I am going to do this in several parts because this topic is a topic that is close to my heart in so many ways.  Koinonia, although not an end in itself, is very, very precious to me.  It is something that I have been "in search of" for a very, very long time.  It is something that God has been dealing with me on for a while as well.  I will try to disclose a little of those details in the next post.  What struck me about the diamonds and the Christian life is that we are not meant to grow alone.  God uses His people to "shape" each other.  He uses other believers to chip off our rough edges and smooth us - to help us see sin in our lives,  to encourage us, to bring us joy, to point us to Him.  It is His design.  It is His community.  And He predominately uses the body we personally belong to.  This means that whatever church you might belong to right now - He intends to use them for your good for this season of your life.  He intends to use you for your church's good in this season as well.  How willing are you to be used?  How willing are you to let Christ use those around you to speak into your life?  

The transition

Well - the diamond was a very beautiful analogy to me of the gospel.  It was something I had been pondering for awhile - when it occurred to me that it is also an interesting analogy for the life of the believer....

I had mentioned the steps that a diamond goes through before it is considered "finished".  The first two were planning and cutting (or cleaving).

When a diamond is mined, it is pretty much a lump of potential.  Without the cutter - it remains a lump.  It is up to the cutter to make a plan to make the diamond into the finished stone.  The cleaving or cutting process requires the cutter to get rid of pieces of the diamond that are flawed.  A lot of times, this leaves the diamond significantly smaller than it started out.  To a regular person, that might look like a waste of a good diamond, but because of the plan - the cutter knows what needs to be cut off to make the diamond into the gem he had in mind - and perfection is the goal - not size.  Transforming the image into the likeness of his design is the goal.

As believers, we have the privilege of not only having a cutter who is out to reveal the diamonds "potential", but that cutter is also the creator.  He forms the lump, then begins the cutting process.  Cutting hurts.  A lot.  There are things in my life I don't want to have cut out.  There are times I would rather not be hurt - so I am more likely to plead to leave the flaws in.... !!  But His goal is to make us into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).  Perfect.  I must decrease so He can increase (John 3:30).  He has a plan for me - a plan to prosper me and not to harm me (Jeremiah 29:11). A hope and a future.  And He will be faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6).

Next set of thoughts.....

Now take a look at these......

Here's a close up of one of these types of stones......

Don't quite look the same, do they??

Yup - they're diamonds.  Uncut or roughs.  

PBS has this to say about them:

"In the 1700s, gold miners in Brazil tossed aside a fortune in unrecognized raw diamonds. " 

Hey - I certainly would have!!!  They don't look a thing like what we see. 

So how do they get from that to this?

They are cut.  A diamantaire is a cutter and polisher of diamonds.  According to Wikipedia, the diamond goes through 5 stages.  "The diamond cutting process includes these steps; planning, cleaving or sawing, bruting, polishing, and final inspection."

Planning, cleaving or sawing (ouch), bruting (this one was new to me and put yet another spin on the diamond analogy in my mind.....), polishing, and final inspection.......  

I think I might take each one in turn - another installment tomorrow.

Installment one... first thoughts

I have been having diamond pictures dancing in my head for a good long time now.  Not the jewelry kind, just the properties of the stone itself.  Not the ethical implications either (i.e. blood diamonds), just the stone.  What it looks like when it comes out of the ground, what is done to it, and the final product.  It began as an analogy to the gospel......

When you go to a jewelry store, the diamonds aren't just thrown out there to look at.  In fact, they aren't even put in pretty displays by the things around them.  One thing a jewelry salesperson will (or won't) tell you is the key to selling a diamond is all about lighting.  Illumination.  Without the lighting - and one in particular - it is harder to sell the diamond.  We actually had a jeweler out to prove to us that their diamonds were the best (when we were looking at engagement and wedding bands) by offering to turn the lights off (which he went ahead and did).  Not the store lights - the ones in the display that they have there for the specific reason of catching the eye.  The ones they use to bring out the true beauty and clarity of the diamond.  The ones that set off the facets of each cut.  The ones that set the stone "on fire".

The Gospel is much that way.  Without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, it has value.  It can teach us moral and sacrificial living.  But it doesn't have the same beauty, the same clarity as when the Holy Spirit illuminates our hearts to the truth.  It doesn't set us on fire.  Once that illumination happens - it shines......

Part two tomorrow.....

So many thoughts.....

OK - so the diamond pictures....  One of many things flying through my mind right now.  And the more I "mull over" the image, more meaning / meanings it has.

So - I have to pick one to start with.  As a line from Alice in Wonderland would say "Begin at the beginning, and continue through until you get to the end.  Then stop."

Beginning thoughts coming soon......