Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

  • Home
  • About
  • DISCLOSURES
    • Amazon Affiliate
    • Book Reviews
  • Published
  • Contact
  • Blog
    • Commit Poetry
    • Dared

The Tragedy of the Unopened (or Underused) Gift

March 16, 2010 By Sandra Heska King

Last night I sat here for three hours and couldn’t think of a thing to write. And to think that followed my post on head pain!

Oh, I had lots of ideas. But nothing I thought anyone would really care about reading. I flipped through page after page of writing books looking for inspiration.

Nothing.

Why in the world did I start a writing blog anyway? What do I have to say that others who know more can’t say better? I mean I haven’t even worked on my WIP for–I don’t know–weeks? I researched some while I was sick, but then I had classes to teach and income taxes to do and now I have a cold. Oh, and the time change. Yeah. That.

Anyway, after I dozed off and bonked my head on the table and wiped the drool off the keyboard, I went to bed. Awake now, I picked up the book–If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg.

Chapter two. Boat Potatoes.

And I couldn’t help but put the whole chapter in the context of writing.

John wrote about the tragedy of the unopened gift. He told about the most beautiful china his grandmother had collected over the years–and stored in the attic. “So my grandmother went to the grave with the greatest gift of her life unopened.”

When we went through my mother-in-law’s things, we found many that were never used–some beautiful placemats that she never took out of the box and some embroidered towels with a note pinned to them. “Please give these to Lucille. She made them for me.”

Lucille would not enjoy them, either. She had already died.

And that reminds me of all Mom King’s pretty china I inherited–still stored in the bottom of the buffet. Waiting to be passed down to a child who likely won’t use it. Because it has no meaning.

Anyway, John says when we receive a gift, we can choose to respond in two ways.

1. This gift is so valuable it can’t be risked.
2. This gift is so valuable it must be risked.

John uses the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) to illustrate that God is Lord of the gift and that we have a responsibility to use that hand-chosen, specially-designed gift. God will hold us accountable for how we use or don’t use what He gives us. And He won’t let us blame external circumstances or play the “when-then game.”

  • Comparison is not an adequate excuse for the tragedy of an unopened (or underused) gift.

As writers, we can’t compare our talent with others, whether writers of best-selling books or writers of encouraging notes–though we can strive to increase our gift like the first servant.

  • Fear is not an adequate excuse for an unopened (or underused) gift.

The last servant was afraid to risk, so he buried his talent and did nothing. Maybe he spent a lot of time reading books on how to invest or networking in the marketplace.

  • Sloth is not an adequate excuse for an unopened (or underused) gift.

We writers are all good at finding something to do instead of what needs to be done when it comes to writing. Procrastinating. Or clutching comfort instead of challenge.

So how about you? Have you opened your gift? Do you compare yourself to others in ways other than to grow? Are you afraid to risk rejection or bleed on the page? Are you just plain lazy? Are you using your gift to its full potential so others can enjoy and benefit from it?

Copyright © 2010 by Sandra Heska King

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: stories and reflections, writing

Comments

  1. Dan King says

    March 16, 2010 at 9:32 pm

    I love that book! I read it several years ago, and still talk about some of the stuff I've learned in that book. So thanks for reminding me of this principle… and about this tragedy. I really love that idea about a gift being so valuable that it MUST be risked! That is something that can seriously change the way we behave if we really get our heads wrapped around that one.

    Thanks!

  2. Sandra Heska King says

    March 17, 2010 at 7:37 am

    Yes, it's a great book! We're studying it as a church right now. Certainly worth several rereads with pen in hand!

  3. Lorna G. Poston says

    March 17, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    My mom plans to sell her china set, the one she collected 1 piece at a time—1 week at a time, by buying groceries at the supermarket. (They had some sort of offer: buy $$ groceries, get a plate or a gravy boat, etc) She has not offered them to me. 🙁

  4. Lorna G. Poston says

    March 17, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    Maybe I'm afraid if I bleed on the page, people will hate it or laugh at me.

  5. Sandra Heska King says

    March 17, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    Does she know you'd like to have them?

    I know the fear thing. The thing is, we are not responsible for the response or the result. We are only responsible for use.

  6. Lorna G. Poston says

    March 17, 2010 at 2:57 pm

    Yeah, she knows. Just like she knows I'd like to have all the pictures she has on slides (for use with a projector)—most are from when I was little—but she made some excuse to not let me have them.

  7. ~~Melinda Y.~~ says

    March 17, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    Gifts. Hmmm.. I think mine are stashed up in the attic. I'm afraid to open them. For years I kept my love in a suitcase till' Jesus came along and unzipped it, now it's like papers flying around in the wind!

    Thanks for a great post:)

  8. Sandra Heska King says

    March 18, 2010 at 9:19 am

    Oh, Melinda. Get up to that attic. Take Jesus with you.

  9. Jody Hedlund says

    March 19, 2010 at 9:25 pm

    Love your application of this to our writing! I think it's true that we often make excuses for using our gifts.

  10. Sandra Heska King says

    March 20, 2010 at 9:39 am

    Hi Jody! I love when you have time to swing by. 🙂

    I think some have difficulty actually acknowledging that they have a gift at all.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Meet Sandra

I’m Sandra, a camera-toting, recovering doer who’s learning to be. still. Read more…

Get updates from the stillness by email

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

Archives

Categories

Instagram Inspiration

sandraheskaking

For most of us, knowledge of our world comes large For most of us, knowledge of our world comes largely through sight, yet we look about with such unseeing eyes that we are partially blind. One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?" ~ Rachel Carson in The Sense of Wonder
#prayformsu #spartanstrong #spartannurse #michigan #prayformsu #spartanstrong #spartannurse #michiganstateuniversity
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faith Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. ~ Psalm 136:1
A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana in the background until I downloaded the photos. That, I believe, is the one that got caught in one of the openings in the neighbor's chain link fence. We tried in several (safe) ways to dislodge it without luck and could think of no other option but to leave it. Somehow it apparently dislodged itself. We also believe this is the pair that was getting into another neighbor's garden. We haven't seen either one since the last cold snap, so we are wondering if they survived. 
🌱
Thinking some may have tumbled from their perches last night. Pretty sure it will be raining iguanas tonight since we are under a frost advisory. It's cold. And windy.
Just sing... sing a song... Singing our way into Just sing... sing a song... 

Singing our way into the weekend.
"We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramse "We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramsey in Rembrandt is in the Wind
Now you see me... now you don't. Now you see me... now you don't.
"I started looking and listening. I realized that "I started looking and listening. I realized that work, like life, is shot through with poetry. It was everywhere. I was so taken with what I discovered that I wrote a book about it." @gyoung9751 
🌱
Whether you work in an office, a retail store, a restaurant, or at home... Whether you work on roads or on power lines, or on high buildings...Whether you collect trash or preach sermons, or care for your kiddos. Whether you do art, or weave words, or take photos of a common gallinule AKA moorhen AKA swamp chicken--it's all shot through with poetry.
🌱
So pay attention. Find a poem.
🌱
Read more at https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2023/01/10/its-poetry-at-work-day-2023/
Rising… Rising…
Everyone needs a little balance in life. And maybe Everyone needs a little balance in life. And maybe a beauty routine. And breakfast. Especially breakfast. I wonder if it consists of a few fire ants. I hope so. (Well, not mine. I'm having oatmeal with chia seeds. What are you having this morning?)
🌱
P.S. Happy Friday!
"Though your destination is not yet clear You can "Though your destination is not yet clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is at one with your life's desire." ~John O'Donohue 
🌿
A blessing for a new beginning in a new year. I'm sure he wrote it especially for me. At least I'm claiming it. Maybe it will speak to you, too.
🌿
Also, I'd really like this skirt --> 
🌿
Read the whole poem--> -->
🌿
Well, bummer... The whole page didn't print. Read it in the comments below.
"What precocity, a bird half the size Of an Anjou "What precocity, a bird half the size
Of an Anjou pear." ~ Stephen Kuusisto in "The Mockingbird on Central" (Find it in The Poets Guide to the Birds edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser)
🌱
"The morning pages are the primary tool of creative recovery." ~ Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way. 
🌱
I've been in a long creative drought, so I started morning pages--again. This time I've got a bit of an accountability group through @refineretreat's Refinery--which I finally also joined this year. I'll turn 74 this month. I'm not ready to grow old while I age--though everything does seem to take longer while time goes by faster.
🌱
#aweandwonder #tsaweandwonder
Tonight’s walk in the neighborhood. I’m still Tonight’s walk in the neighborhood. I’m still kinda amazed that out of all the places we could have ended up after moving from a place I said I’d never move from), here we are—planted right next to the northern Everglades. Six-plus years, and I still shake my head in wonder.
"So fancy is the world..." ~ Mary Oliver in "This "So fancy is the world..." ~ Mary Oliver in "This World." #aweandwonder #tsaweandwonder
Look, Mom! I can walk on water! #aweandwonder #tsa Look, Mom! I can walk on water! #aweandwonder #tsaweandwonder
Gazing into 2023 like… Let’s take it step by Gazing into 2023 like… 
Let’s take it step by step with hope and courage. Also I hope to be posting again more often.
🎉
Happy New Year!
The morning before the last morning of 2022. 🌴 The morning before the last morning of 2022. 
🌴
71 degrees. Heading to 83. I can live with that.
From the top of Brasstown Bald—the highest point From the top of Brasstown Bald—the highest point in Georgia at 4784 feet.
Winding roads… Winding roads…
Tonight's moon. It's kinda okay. Tonight's moon. It's kinda okay.
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Get the Mug

Embrace the life you have t s poetry mug

Privacy Policy

Full privacy policy is available HERE.

I Read Light

TSP-Red button

bibledude-net



Sponsor a Child

Join the Compassion Blogger Network

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2023 Sandra Heska King · Site by The Willingham Enterprise, LLC on the Genesis Framework by StudioPress · Log in