In “other” Words: Living Well is the Best Revenge

by Hopeful Spirit on Tuesday, September 11, 2007



“The worth and excel­lency of a soul is to be mea­sured by the object of its love.“
Henry Scou­gal (The Life of God in the Soul of Man ),
quoted by John Piper in The Plea­sures of God

Today the object of our love, as well as our respect and honor, should be the vic­tims of Sep­tem­ber 11, 2001. Our thoughts turn to them because the worth and excel­lency of our souls will be mea­sured today, and on every anniver­sary of that day, by how we respond to the evil that was unleashed in New York City, Wash­ing­ton, D.C. and in the skies over Pennsylvania.

It will also be mea­sured by how we live out our beliefs by not just hon­or­ing the dead, but car­ing for those who con­tinue mourn­ing and suf­fer­ing from the impact those events.

By lov­ingly reach­ing out to all who were impacted by the events of that ter­ri­ble morn­ing, we demon­strate where our trea­sure is (Matthew 6:21) and the nature of our heart.

And that is true, of course, not just about Sep­tem­ber 11’s vic­tims, but every per­son with whom we inter­act — each and every day.

Today, as I see some of those dis­turb­ing images yet again, remem­ber where I was and how I expe­ri­enced that day, see the names of the vic­tims … I am grate­ful for all the bless­ings in my own life and reminded never to take them for granted.

Paul New­man summed it up best: “Liv­ing well is the best revenge.”

And to me, “liv­ing well” means mak­ing a con­certed effort to be happy and con­tent, remem­ber­ing how very lucky and blessed we are, while shar­ing what we have with those who are less for­tu­nate and demon­strat­ing love, com­pas­sion, for­give­ness and tol­er­ance to those around us.

In liv­ing out our faith, we honor those lost and demon­strate the worth and excel­lency of our spirit — col­lec­tively, as a nation and com­mu­nity, and as individuals.


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{ 7 comments }

1 Denise September 11, 2007 at 9:16 am

Amen, bless you sweetie. :smile:

2 Laurel Wreath September 11, 2007 at 9:27 am

I love Paul’s quote, that is so true. Amen.

3 Kimberly Pharris September 11, 2007 at 3:06 pm

Thanks so much!

4 Miriam Pauline September 12, 2007 at 5:58 am

Remembering with you. Well said.

5 Hair Loss Cure September 12, 2007 at 10:00 pm

9/11 was an event which has made such an impact on everybody which cannot be expressed. Till today also when we think about it, it gives a feeling of absolute sadness.
I ask to god to give courage to people to come out of that disturbing event.
Life is short, we really do not know what our next moment would be like. So it’s best to enjoy every single moment and every single day to it’s fullest.
Let’s all thank god for all the good things we have in life.

6 Robin Sampson September 16, 2007 at 12:07 pm

Well said. Thanks for your view.

7 washington limousine February 19, 2008 at 3:35 pm

Amen…

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