What is a Sundial in the Shade?

Since changing the name of my blog a few months ago I’ve had several people ask me what it means. I love quotes, I don’t remember them and I usually forget to write them down, but I love them none the less. In my home-office right now I have several

“Writing is Hard Work—do it only if you have too” (my husband doesn’t think this is inspiring, but that’s cause he’s not a writer. It could also read ‘Real Estate Development is Hard Work—do it only if you have too, and then he’d understand it’s about fulfilling a passion you have. Mine is writing, his is real estate—I don’t know the original speaker of this one so I hope they don’t sue me)

“Your job is to tell the truth—their job is to learn from it” (I also don’t know who the original speaker of this one, so I hope they don’t sue me either, but author-actor-director-script writer, Thom Duncan, relayed it to me and I loved it. It reminds me what my end of the bargain is)

“The great public is the only tribunal competent to sit in judgment upon a literary effort”—Mark Twain. (I was told this by Lyle Mortimer of Cedar Fort a few years back and had it made into a sign I then hung on my wall. I gave him one too and it serves to remind me that I’m not just writing for the two reasons in the above quotes, but that I’m also writing to sell books.)

But the quote that has inspired me more than any other is the following:

“Use your talents, for use is why they were made. What is a Sundial in the Shade?” Ben Franklin.

So I ask you—what is a sundial in the shade? A nice statue? Somewhere for the cat to sleep and the birds to . . . decorate? Can a sundial fulfill it’s measure without sun? Another quote that explains this concept is “An Items value is in it’s use.” So, if you are a sundial, but you live in the shade, what is the use of being a sundial? And if you’re a writer, but you don’t use your gift, or you don’t find a way to share it,—what is the value of your talent?

Whether it’s writing, or baking, or welding, or running, or serving others, or real estate development—whatever talent the Lord has given us, do we keep it in the shade? What is it’s use to us? What is it’s value? And what will we say when the Lord asks us.

“Hey, were did you put your sundial?”

Step out of the shadows—spread your arms wide—turn your face to the sun and let the world know that “Here I am!”