Hide Not Your Talents

“Hide not your talents, they for use were made, What's a sundial in the shade?”

This quote from Benjamin Franklin is one of my favorite sayings. I often use it to remind myself that my talents are to be used and not hidden.

But I’ll be honest. At first, I wasn’t too sure what a sundial was. So I did some researching and found out that it’s an instrument that tells the time of the day by the position of the sun. According to wikipedia, “As the sun appears to move across the sky, the shadow aligns with different hour-lines which are marked on the dial to indicate the time of day.”

The sun is essential to the job of the sundial. Imagine if you had a sundial in your home and never exposed it to the sun. What use would it be? What a waste it would be? The sundial would be in your home as an ornament, not being used, not doing it’s job. Just sitting there in the shade.

Imagine though if you did expose the sundial to the sun and gave it the ability to do what it was created to do? How useful would it be? It would be doing it’s job - telling the time of day by the position of the sun!

I went through this to illustrate Benjamin Franklin’s quote. Our talents, like the sundial, should not be hidden but should be used to accomplish the purpose for which they were created.

The sundial’s purpose is to tell time by using the sun. I believe that each of us has a talent that can be used to serve others. For example, some of us are blessed with the talent of creating or playing music. What are the benefits of music? Music can bring us joy, comfort, it can be used for therapy, and I’m sure you can think of other uses. I’m using music because I myself am a musician but this can be applied to any other talent.

What is your talent? It may not be something that puts you in the spotlight. Not all composers are seen but their music can carry on for a lifetime. You may not know who played the drums or the keyboard on your favorite song but that person made use of their talent even though they may not have been seen.

What is that unique talent you have that can be used to serve someone else? Is it that you are an amazing cook? An eloquent speaker? A writer, artist, actor, comedian. The list can go on and on.

Whatever your talent is, don’t hide it, put it to good use!

Until next time!

Karlene.