Sharpening Iron and other sorta metaphors

Well another Alpha season is over until April, which means that Rob and I will resume the two man small group as best as we can until then.
I met the other half of my small group (That's Rob of course) last Summer when I decided to take a class at church to make friends.
Let me rephrase that.
I met Rob at a class that Bella signed me up for so that we could meet friends. If Bella didn't say "Hey, Why don't we go to this class." I still would probably be sitting around wondering who people were. So let me give credit were credit is due.
I didn't do anything really other than say "Alright, why not."
I am going to risk sounding like your pastor or mother, but it is true. I think small groups a great thing, and mind you I am talking mainly to the person that is interested in getting stronger in their faith, but I believe this is an important thing for anyone that wants to expand themself.
The Bible uses expressions like "Iron sharpening Iron" (Wondered where the title came from eh?) and the Apostle Paul talks about training, races, and building yourself up so much that parts of the New Testament sound like parts of a Rocky screenplay.
So, let me make a long ramble even shorter. (So I can go to work.)
You grow better when you grow with other people. Whether you are talking about your faith or lifting weights it is good and important to have someone to be there with you.
In weight lifting you need a "spotter" to help you when the weights get to heavy and you can't lift them off of yourself.
When the road gets difficult you will have the same trouble in anything you do if you don't have a good spotter. It's easy to do things when they are easy for you, but when the road gets rocky it is better to have another to lift you up when you fall, and encourage you by walking the road with you. If you try to do it alone, you will be certain to lose sight of your goal if you have no one to help you with it.
If you don't believe me on that, consider how many people try to lose weight after New Years. If you vow to do it yourself, and you have no one else to keep you at that goal about how long do you think you would stay with it? The average person makes it til January 5th. Pretty sad testimony about will power.
You learn more with other people. Baseball teams train together for a reason. How do you learn to catch a ball if no one throws or hits one to you? How do you learn how to pitch if someone doesn't try to hit the ball. The truth is, if you work with other people, you will learn more faster and effectively.
I learned more in 1 year of being in groups about my faith, than I did in 12 years of studying on your own. Feedback, Discussion, and group activity is important for anything you wish to learn to do well.
and finally People to support and pray for you. Yes I mentioned this partly when I said you grow better with other people. I can't stress how important it is to have people around when the road gets harder. The road always gets harder at some point or other.
When Bella's mother was getting more and more ill, it took us sticking together and lifting each other up to help us get through this time. It is not weak to share burdens and help each other, and the person you lean on this time will probably need someone to lean on soon enough.
So if you are looking for a way to get more out of life than just playing Civilization 3 all day, I would suggest finding a good group or a good friend and build yourself and them up.