Sounds like a very racy romance novel, doesn’t it?  Or maybe a reality TV show? Actually it is very real, it is my reality, it is my daily life.  I should know, I am one of them.  I am in fact (and have been for many years) a lady of the cul de sac.

You see, I’m fortunate enough to have some wonderful women as my neighbors on this cul de sac we all call home.  Now our lives may not be the stuff of TV primetime dramas, full of exciting, albeit questionable escapades and such.  No, our lives are something infinitely better – they are real lives.

And they are full lives.  They are full of the humor, the pain, the joy, the loss, the learning, sharing, striving, struggling, searching, persisting and prevailing that characterize our days.  (that’s a list just full of drama if you ask me)  No wonder we’re often exhausted, that’s a pretty intense list.

I think it all started with bible study.  We bonded over bible study, all sharing a common desire to know God more personally and more deeply.  We pray together and we pray for each other.  These deep bonds are the foundation of our friendships upon which we have built over the years.

We have added many things to that foundation.  One of us has a “fitness/yoga studio” in her home where she has us doing yoga or cardio on a regular basis.  She is looking out for our physical fitness and encourages each of us in this area.  We want to be physically fit as well as spiritually growing!  We have had/have a book club off and on, depending on our schedules.  Some of us are good cooks (we all benefit from that)  we share recipes and secrets as we share our daily lives.  (and sometimes secret recipes?)

We have parties to celebrate special occasions and parties for no reason other than to get together.  We have garage sales to get rid of stuff and we shop together to buy more stuff.  We encourage each other.  (like when we went shoe shopping and encouraged each other to “buy the shoes, you need them, they look fabulous on you, you’ll regret it if you don’t get them and (the clincher) besides, they’re on sale!”).

Life isn’t just parties though, not even for the ladies of the cul de sac.  We’ve shared funerals and the loss they represent in each of our lives, with each other as well. Truly we are living out, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”  (Romans 12:15)

We have prayed each other through surgeries and illnesses.  Actually, one very adventurous lady of the cul de sac is currently in a cast as I write this.  However, nothing keeps her down for long – she will rise again!  (really, it’s not slowing her down all that much even now)

We ladies of the cul de sac bear one another’s burdens.  And that is a wonderful thing, to have someone share in your pain, to know you are not alone in your sorrow or your heartache.  We pray for each other and we pray for each other’s husbands, children and grandchildren.  We pray knowing the legacy of eternal life through faith that we each long to leave our loved ones with when we are gone.  “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  (Galatians 6:2)

For these sisters in Christ I am daily grateful even though I don’t say it often enough.  We pray together, study God’s word together, eat together, exercise together, shop together, party together, play cards together, laugh together, cry together,  . . .

Ladies of the Cul de Sac  —  so much more than a reality TV show —  it is real life!

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:  If one falls down, his friend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”   (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)

I love you ladies of the cul de sac,   grateful to be one of you  –

sincerely,           Grace Day