Small Talk.

How many times to do you have this interaction each day:

"How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?"

"Good, see ya later."

If you are like me then this is a frequent conversation that you have every day. It is our culture to be polite and acknowledge other people, but we have become so programmed to only give one response. If I had a horrible day and then someone asked "how are you?" in passing and I told them the heaviness and sorrow I was feeling, it would probably be more than they signed up for.

It makes me sad how many times each day we lie to ourselves and we get lied to. In an effort to avoid being uncomfortable, we don't talk enough about how we are actually doing.

I think it breaks God's heart each time we try to muster up the strength to answer "good" while we are dying on the inside.

If you look at Jesus's interactions through the gospels we never see him asking a question that he doesn't want to hear the answer to. He is so intentional and compassionate in the way he asks and loves people. We are created to act in the same way. The world would look so much different if we started caring like that.

I want to be present even when words fail, even when it's heavy, even when it's uncomfortable. Because I want to follow him God's footsteps and the only time he said it was good was when he meant it.

---