Created to Maximize

You were created to be a honeybee

a beautiful creature

designed to create something sweet

and a greater purpose – to choose

Caleigh Ball

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Growing up, my mom often played an album by Switchfoot that I believe really played a part in shaping me as a person. She would turn on the stereo, put the CD in, press play, and the whole house would be filled with the tunes of this particular album. My mom always did this to motivate herself to get the work done around the house that needed to be done. What she didn’t realize was the impact it had on me as a child.

Maybe that’s why I’m such an advocate about the music you listen to. One of the reasons at least. But music has a way of moving you, and depending on the choice of music, it can be either in a good direction or a negative one.

I mean, music does set an atmosphere, and like I said above it can go both ways, good and bad. There’s a reason that, in the armies of Israel, the ones who led the armies were the musicians. Or when King Saul was suffering from a troubled mind, he sought out a musician in an effort to ease his troubles. Music sets an atmosphere. For my mom, it was the encouraging lyrics and upbeat music that motivated her to do the work that was set for that given day.

The song that I believed affected me the most is called “Meant to Live.” The title alone insinuates that something greater is meant for each of us, more than the monotonous life we’ve become accustomed to. 

The first line of the chorus says, “We were meant to live for so much more. Have we lost ourselves?” Oftentimes, we allow life to pass us by without us even realizing it. We get caught up in the day to day routine of life. Wake up, get ready for the day, get the kids off to school, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed. Day after day we tend to repeat the same routine. (Well, I don’t have kids yet, but maybe you do.)

This is not to say that routines are a bad thing whatsoever. I absolutely love a good routine. However, when we get so focused on the routine that we neglect to stop and smell the roses and be intentional and present in the moment, it’s almost like we stick our heads in the sand or put blinders on. So while routines are a good thing, those good things can become toxic things if we allow it.

Meant to live… speaks volumes. Are you truly living? Or are you caught in a routine?

See, we weren’t created to get caught in a routine. We were created to maximize our lives and to live to the full potential that God intended us to. Like I had mentioned, sometimes we get so caught up in the mundane that we develop tunnel vision. When this happens, we are in danger of losing the vision God has spoken to us.

Meant to live… 

God created each of us with a specific purpose to accomplish. He wants to do those things in and through our lives, but oftentimes we get so wrapped up in living our own lives that we neglect the purpose He planned for us. And ultimately, the plan He has for us will bring fulfillment to our lives; it will bring meaning to it.

However, we have a choice. We can either maximize our lives, what He has for us, and what He’s entrusted to us or we can squander it out of neglect. Choosing to maximize is an intentional choice; it’s something you have to remind yourself of daily. It doesn’t just come; it requires effort.

You were created to live for God and what He has purposed for your life. The question is, are you willing to choose to maximize? 

My prayer for you is that you choose, as Robert Frost said, the road less traveled. To take your life by the reins and maximize all that God has entrusted to you. 

❁

Stay tuned for my next blog post where I’ll share with you the “how” to maximize the life God has given you.

Bye for now, my friends.

Caleigh

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An adventurer and coffee enthusiast at heart, Caleigh Ball has a passion for reaching out to others to inspire them to live with intention and purpose. As an ordained minister, she spends her time ministering as a youth pastor and is actively involved in Arise Ministries as the vice president and bookkeeper as well as one of the ministers. She enjoys life with her husband, Emmanuel, and their cat, Alaska, in their home state, Almost Heaven West Virginia.

Find Caleigh on Instagram at @caleigh.ball