Living on Grateful Lane

Since the Covid era began, Felicia and I have been frequent travelers around Wake and the adjacent counties. We’ve explored the neighborhoods and country lanes north, east, south and west of our home in south Raleigh. Our Christmas project in 2024 was taking photographs of road signs bearing the first names of family members and friends to use as gifts (41 of them). So now we pay a lot of attention to those green street signs You may know that some years ago the county gave a name to virtually every street, road, highway, and beaten path in order to assist first responders in locating people in need of help. Today even long driveways are marked with a green sign. A year or so ago as we traveled along Mitchell Mill Road in eastern Wake County, I noticed a sign next to what appeared to be a long gravel driveway to a house back in the trees. The street name was “Grateful Lane.” As we passed by, I was struck by what it would be like to live on Grateful Lane. What a cool address. We’ve ventured down Mitchell Mill fairly frequently since then and every time I look for my favorite road. But recently it occurred to me that regardless of the geographic location of our home, we can still live on Grateful Lane. We can live with the awareness that we have so many gifts, far more than we have earned or deserve. Each of us can adopt a spiritual practice of gratitude and see the world with what one writer has called “soft eyes.” And we can all embody our gratitude by helping to meet the needs of others in all the ways we can. Our street address locates us geographically in a particular place on the planet. But living on Grateful Lane locates us in a sense of humility and gratitude that transcends physical space. In these days, I believe our planet would thrive if we all chose this address as our own.

-Cathy Tamsberg , Stewardship Committee