My dear old friend's earthly labours have long been ended; but, as I think of him, I seem to see his face shining with glad thankfulness, as he recalled this opportunity of usefulness given him by God and so happily utilised, though the delay in another sense cost him a disappointment.
Had my friend spent the time in grumbling at the delay, instead of thinking how it could be turned to good account, how different would have been the result! Or, if he had kept sullenly aloof, or answered his young neighbour's remark curtly, thus repelling his half-offer of confidence, the current of a life would have set in the wrong direction, and the chances of doing and receiving good would have been lost for ever.
Opportunity comes under so many forms, means so much, and is so often lost.
We live, it may be, near places of beauty and interest. Because we are near, we think we can visit them at any time, but we never see them at all. We have opportunities of obtaining useful information, of gaining valuable experiences and increasing our stores of knowledge. We put off availing ourselves of them until some unknown future time, which never comes.
But the time does come to most of us when we want just the knowledge or experience that we might have had if we had utilised past opportunities, and then, we either gain it at much greater cost of time and trouble, or we suffer for the want of it, to say nothing of the additional pang of self-reproach which comes with the need.
Money frittered away in vanity and folly means the loss of chances for making others happy and lifting the burdens from overweighted shoulders. Lost opportunities for giving pleasure to those we love are brought home to us with a terrible sting afterwards.
Do we ever lose a relative or beloved friend without feeling our sorrow intensified by the thought of some little wish neglected, some opportunity for giving pleasure lost?
It is generally the little ones that are missed, when they concern those we dearly love. Great opportunities are seldom ignored. But when it is too late and we feel, oh, so sadly, that we might have availed ourselves of the lesser ones also, these, however trifling, assume an importance not realised until, with the sense of omission, comes the thought that they are lost for ever.