Minimize versus maximize? Those two words direct a lot of actions for humans in our generation. The markets continue to explode with minimizing the aging process. I’m not pointing fingers. As the hourglass continues to flow and my skin succumbs to years of gravity and pull, the wrinkles maximize. Studies show that there’s no real and lasting way to stop aging, but those minimizing creams still cause me to dream about their effectiveness. The down side of their claims is the more effective they are, the more expensive they always are. 

Then comes my next challenge. Am I a steward of my money that seeks to maximize the Kingdom of God or minimize my wrinkles?

Everyone faces the choice of minimizing or maximizing our time. TV is one of my “hazards” that I face daily. It can offer educational programs, news that keeps me in the know, and an endless selection of entertainment. What can be bad or wrong with any of these as long as they line up with moral selections? It’s those two words again! If I allow any or all of those to maximize my time, I minimize the time that I spend in the Word, prayer or being a servant. God leaves those two M’s up to me. It’s me and me alone that chooses.

It would be nice, in my estimation, that exercise didn’t fit in either of these two categories, but it does. If I minimize my minutes of mobility in a day — like kicking back in my lounge chair too often, my body will soon align with that saying: “Use it or lose it!” However, if I become an exercise overloader and maximize my time in all sorts of physical activities, other areas of my life are minimized. I need God’s wisdom for a healthy balance.

Healthy eating! You may want to skip over this like I wanted to skip over even mentioning it, but I’m very much aware of the importance of the quantities and kinds of food I put in my body. I can never find any scientists promoting sugar intake, so why do I crave it? If spinach is so good for supplying nutrients, why can’t it taste like a chocolate sundae? Why did I learn that a meal is not complete without a dessert? Why can’t a small sample of chocolate satisfy me instead of the entire Hershey bar? Why can’t salted pecans be as healthy as raw almonds?

Again, it’s my choice to minimize or maximize healthy eating when it comes to size of servings, choices and discipline. I need a strength stronger than my physical appetite!

What about my tongue? It’s amazing that it’s so small compared to other body parts, but has so much power. It can go on for hours and be caught saying things that I wish I hadn’t. The choice is mine again — to minimize the use of my tongue — saying only those kind, necessary things or maximizing its time of use which most always can head in a wrong direction. It’s called gossip.

Just this morning I read a Bible verse that spoke to my two M’s — “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” Romans 8:6. That was my solution. The Spirit gives wisdom, guidance, discipline and peace. I knew that! Yes or no to the Spirit’s leading covers all the bases to life or death. I must MAXIMIZE obeying the Spirit’s leading and minimize the flesh.

Camille Anding, The Daily Leader, P. O. Box 551, Brookhaven, MS 39602.