I grew up on Easy Street. It wasn’t a metaphorical experience but an actual street. It was a street that had formerly been the main highway outside town. It became a residential street when Eisenhower’s highway system replaced the old concrete highway. I loved living on Easy Street. I didn’t know the meaning of living on Easy Street at the time. There was a large gravel dune behind our house. And rolling down the 40 or 60-foot high mound was great fun. I would have worried myself sick if my kids were playing on this mound that could slide upon you at any moment. But back then parents didn’t worry about as much as we do now.
I have lived on many different streets since Easy Street. I have lived at 220th Pl. And there was Magnolia Way. This road sounds nice but it was a dive area I lived in while attending college. I lived on 15th Pl. for a while. And there was also 124th St. Now I live on E. Satterfield. It’s a pretty new address. You can’t even get it on Mapquest. In fact if you go to Google Earth it just shows an open field where my house is located. My favorite address was Lowe St. We lived in a cute little house there. Our children went through their kindergarten years there. We were poor, over worked and stressed but happy.
A doctor friend of mine moved his offices to a high tower building right downtown. His move meant he could charge more per patient. None of my moves have allowed me to charge. And usually they cost me more. Changing your address can cost you greatly sometimes. But then again a good change of address can allow for a new start that is very needed.
I almost moved to Nashville a few years ago. I am glad I didn’t. But it was a nice place and would have made a fine address change, I think. The price of everything was so much less than where I live. It would have cost me a great deal less. And the music would have been worth it as well. There is a lot of music in Nashville, as you know. The culture seemed to have a great deal more politics about it than the West Coast where I live. I didn’t move because I decided I liked my address where I lived already. And I don’t like moving that much.
I know many people who need to change their spiritual address. They need to let themselves find an address that works for them instead of against them. Sometimes people clamor to live on Easy Street. There really is an Easy Street out there. It is just a hard address to maintain. Some have chosen to live on Hard Street. You just need to move every once in awhile inside.
One of the best parts of moving is unexpected. I moved ten hours from my home of 33 years last year. The move was a good one. But we discovered quickly we had collected a lot of junk along the way. I threw away or gave away about 1/3 of my personal library.
I had collected, one book at a time, about 30 good-sized boxes of books that I’d never read again. Thirty boxes of books is a lot of stuff to carry 800 miles just to not be used. We also gave away about 1/2 our furniture. We had downsized our living space enough that entire rooms full of furniture had to go.
The state of the economy right now is causing many to look at some accumulated obligations and dump them. There can be significant dead wood that builds up investment-wise in over-priced real estate and other things. It can be a good experience. It can for sure be a painful one too.
Your spiritual house could need some cleaning. Attitudes collect, as do resentments, that have to be unloaded when you arrive at a new address spiritually. Attitudes and anger can begin to feel like home. Tragically they are some folk’s home. I encourage you to think about a move. It might be time to move from Resentment Street to Joy Ave.
