Tuesday Re-mix –
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another… Hebrews 10:24-25
As a teenager starting to drive, I spent one Saturday afternoon learning from Dad how to change the oil in my car. It was actually pretty interesting to me. I was fascinated with the whole process. Dad was very careful to show me how to change the oil filter without damaging it, how to drain the oil and properly dispose of it, how to tighten the drain plug again without stripping it, and how to put the new oil into the engine. It was a whole process. I learned it all.
Then, by the time I was 40 years old, I had paid to replace two different automobile engines as a result of NOT changing the fluids regularly enough. It seems that, while I did learn HOW to change the oil…I had not learned THAT I must change the oil regularly! I am a slow learner. 
The truth is, I have had a hard time learning about routine maintenance in lots of respects…appliances (both major and minor), household, landscaping, automobiles, computers…you name it, if I have owned it, I have struggled with routine maintenance for it.
Relationships have routine maintenance requirements as well. All relationships do…even Christian relationships. Relationships between really good people still need maintenance. Relationships among experts on relationships still need maintenance. Without that maintenance, even the strongest of relationships will tend toward breakdown.
I am always amazed in my counseling endeavors when I find two otherwise intelligent, personable, Christian leaders who spend little time actually nurturing their friendship with one another and who then seem befuddled by the brokenness …
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