Do you know what One Anothering is? I bet you do. In fact, you are probably familiar with several verses in Scripture that mention One Anothering. Do you know which ones I’m talking about?

Here are a few challenges of One Anothering that can be a bit of a problem in those daily challenges of life:

“… live in complete harmony with one another.”–Romans 15:5

“…bearing with one another, forgiving each other…“–Colossians 3:13a

“…regard one another as more important than yourselves…“–Philippians 2:3

One Anothering…do you ever just get tired of it?

Some days I feel like I am one anothering myself to death—some days it feels like I am doing all the one anothering—What has everybody else been reading?  Don’t they know these things?

Don’t think I haven’t told them….repeatedly.

Why does it feel like I am the only one in the family that is one anothering?

I tell you what, I am saving up all my one another passes, and I am going on vacation!

 Do you ever feel like if you have to one another ONE MORE THING…

See the problem with one anothering? It is supposed to be reciprocal…  It is one of those things that calls for faithfulness and perseverance for sure. Like it or not.

I have been married for over 20 years and have had children in my house for 19.  Do you know how much one anothering that means?  Do you know how much laundry that means?  10, 608 loads of One Another laundry.  I have earned some frequent washer points on that one.  Too bad nobody but me is keeping track.

18,900  meals in 20 years!  If I got paid $10 a meal, I’d be a rich woman! Can you imagine?

How many times do you think I have cleaned the bathroom?  At least 1,000, and that doesn’t include multiple bathrooms in the house. Thankfully, these days my kids take this chore, so one anothering does come back to you sometimes. But don’t think they would be doing this task voluntarily!

How about the Mom-Taxi service?  It is about 800 rides to the kids a year, and that doesn’t include too and from school.  If I made $6 a ride, I’d net 5,600 a year on the Mom Taxi alone. Yes one anothering is often mobile.

Let’s not even talk about how many times I have moved, packed and unpacked boxes, hung pictures, painted rooms, helped kids get settled…Let’s not even go there or we’ll all be so exhausted we’ll have to lay down and take a nap right here.

 Do you ever just get tired of it?  Still more… One Anothering…?

What do we need when this kind of thinking begins to get the better of us? Frustrated, exhausted, irritated, discouraged, and down-right ornery…what do we need?

Perseverance–along with a heaping portion of patience, love, and generosity. A little extra sanity doesn’t hurt either. Yes those Love One Another verses are truly important.

And no, perseverance is not a bad word, but it can be a challenging word, can’t it?  Many things in our lives call for perseverance, and they are not always so humorous.  In fact, most of the verses in the Bible that refer to perseverance do so in the context of difficulties and trials.

Join me as I continue to focus on perseverance in this current blog series.

If you have missed the first couple of posts:

Still More? You Gotta be Kidding!

Keep On: The Perseverance of Faithfulness

Also on Perseverance: