We ought not to need night to teach us the glories of the day. We ought not to have to wait for sorrow before we can appreciate the sweetness of joy. Yet is it not often true that we learn the value of our blessings but by their loss? Many a time an empty chair is the first full revealer of the worth and faithfulness of a precious human friendship. Would it not be well if we were to seek to appreciate our good things while we have them? We would then have the joy itself, and not merely the dull pain of regret as we look back at blessings vanished. Besides, we would do more for our friends while they are with us if we appreciated their worth. Too many of us never understand what we owe to our dear ones until there remains no further opportunity of paying love’s debt.