Life Well-Lived, Vol. 8

Hello, friends, and welcome to the EIGHTH installment of "Life Well Lived" The idea is to, every Wednesday, blog about the things in life, small or huge or anywhere in between, that make you joyful, that make you thankful...anything that makes your life WELL LIVED. 

Don't forget to follow @MyLifeWellLived on Twitter!  Blog, or just tweet about what makes your #LifeWellLived (don't forget the hashtag) and join in the fun!

Today, I'm going to keep it very simple (though, I do have some things up my sleeve for next week!).  I'm currently reading a book called The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. 



Source

Brief Synopsis (from the book jacket): A spare and haunting, wise and intelligent novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo is a testament to the endurance of the spirit and the subtle ways individuals reclaim the humanity in a city ravaged by war.

The subject of the book is quite serious and heavy...but there was a passage in the very early chapters that really spoke to me:

Ten years ago, when she was eighteen and was not called Arrow, she borrowed her father's car and drove to the countryside to visit friends. It was a bright, clear day, and the car felt alive to her, as though the way she and the car moved together was a sort of destiny, and everything was happening exactly as it ought to. As she rounded a corner one of her favorite songs came on the radio, and sunlight filtered through the trees the way it does with lace curtains, reminding her of her grandmother, and tears began to slide down her cheeks. Not for her grandmother, who was then still very much among the living, but because she felt an enveloping happiness to be alive, a joy made stronger by the certainty that someday it would all come to an end. It overwhelmed her, made her pull the car to the side of the road. Afterward she felt a little foolish, and never spoke to anyone about it.

Now, however, she knows she wasn't being foolish. She realizes that for no particular reason she stumbled into the core of what it is to be human. It's a rare gift to understand that your life is wondrous, and that it won't last forever.

Friends...I have had this moment.  Blessedly, I have had it more often recently than in years past.  It's incredible and overwhelming and leaves you feeling loved, vulnerable, afraid, and joyful.  I feel like this passage really explains the kind of joy that Kelsey, the mind behind Life Well Lived, feels on a regular basis for her life and her set of circumstances at any given time.

So today, I encourage you to really be open and available to what God, the world, the universe is trying to tell you and show you.  Let yourself be aware of just how wondrous your life really is.