Stones

 If I am going to build something that uses stones, I cannot simply bunch stones together.  The structure will not hold.  I have to cut, polish, chisel, to fit the stones together so that the structure holds.  A church or a sobriety group is made up of people who fit together.  The structure is the people, not the building.  At first, they are rough and unfit for one another.  But in time, with spiritual practice and instruction, the stones will get chiseled, polished, and cut so that they fit together.  You can say, "I am this or that," but such is simply membership, at best.  To become a group, work has to be done on each member.  Unless I am allowing my God to chisel me to size, I am a misfit in whatever organization I say I belong.