I know that I am not right in many things, just ask the kind lady of the parsonage. If I could be right as many times as I am wrong, I would be a genius. The problem is that I am more wrong than I am right, which throws me off balance a bit.

People always say things that they don’t really mean. I guess they’re just trying to be nice and courteous.

For example. My wife will say when I walk out the door to go somewhere, “Drive carefully.”

I do not know what that means. Do you think I’m going to drive like an idiot? Well, maybe that’s not a good illustration.

Another is, if you go to a party, someone will say, “Have fun.”

Does that mean that they have the impression that you will not have fun unless you are attracted to them? Why do people always say things like that?

We always say things that we don’t mean.

Of course, I am always a bit cautious about certain things my wife can tell me. The most infamous would be: “Does this dress make me look fat?” I’m not sure who came up with that, but his head wasn’t spinning in the right direction.

After thinking about it a bit, I get the impression that if someone asks me that question, especially if it is my wife, they are not looking for the correct answer. They are looking for a compliment.

Is it more important to tell the truth or to cheer someone up? That has always been my dilemma.

A question has bothered me for a long time. I must confess that I did it myself, but it still bothers me. It’s when we meet someone and we say, “Hi, how are you?”

Why do we say something like that? Whenever I ask someone how they are doing, I don’t want them to tell me how they are doing. I am trying to be polite and friendly. I don’t want to know the details of his life.

Like I said, I find myself saying the exact same thing. I’m trying to get over this addiction to the phrase and will probably need several months in some rehab center. It would be worth taking this out of my conversation.

I don’t know if he was just having a bad day or if he was sick of this question. Not long ago I was leaving the store and someone greeted me and said, “Hi, how are you today?”

Something got hold of me. To this day I can’t explain what the hell made me do what I did. But I did it and there it is.

I realized that the person who asked the question was in a hurry to get into the store, but I did it anyway. He asked me how I was and I stopped him and told him how I was.

“I’m glad you asked,” I began, “because I’m not feeling very well today.” I realized that he was trying to get past me, but he was going to have my opinion no matter what.

“I hurt my big toe this morning, I think I broke a nail. I’ve been limping all day and I’m getting a little tired.”

He looked at me and then looked at the grocery store, but I pretended not to see him.

“I got up this morning,” I continued as if I had nothing else in the world to do, “my back hurt so bad I could barely get out of bed. I’m not so sure what happened, but wow. It really hurts.”

He glanced at his watch and then looked at the grocery store entrance again, but I kept pretending I didn’t see him.

“My day hasn’t gone very well,” I complained to him, “I seem to be late for everything. I missed my doctor’s appointment this morning and I’m not sure when I’ll be back. See that doctor.”

I could see that he was getting very nervous and almost agitated. He tried to interrupt me, but I pretended not to notice.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with my car. There is a lot of noise in the engine and I’m not sure if I should accept it or what I should do with it.”

“Well,” he said quite anxiously, “I have to go into the store.” With that, he quickly walked away muttering.

I’m sure everyone who longs with their friends talked about it. You probably thought he was crazy. Sometimes it’s good to be crazy. After all, he’s the one who asked me how I was doing. If you didn’t want to know how I was, why did you ask me how I was?

I chuckled and then began to think about my prayer life. I wonder how many times I do that in my prayer life. I pray for something, but I’m really not that interested in it.

I wonder if Jesus had this in mind when He said, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22).

Prayer is not nonsensical gibberish, but a faith-centered request.