It had been a late night and an early morning. Sitting at the breakfast table with my friends, bleary-eyed, and wading through another cup of coffee, I confessed, "Look, I'm barely here. If you have anything important to say, you're going to need to repeat it, like, three times."
My exhaustion was a convenient excuse, but we would all have to confess that we don't always pay attention. But I was right; repetition is the key to remembering. Way back in 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered that repeating a name three times locks it into our long-term memory (though I have my doubts it would work on a name like "Hermann Ebbinghaus").
Repetition helps us remember. I think God already knew that. In the New Testament, we find 100 passages that tell us what we should do for "one another." We should pray for one another, speak truth to one another, bear one another's burdens, and serve one another, just to name a few. If Ebbinghouse says three times is the charm, the Bible's 100 "one anothers" shows us that God doesn't want us to forget how to love one another!
