For some reason today, during a field trip to a planetarium located on a local college’s grounds, I began looking down at my feet. While I was walking on pavement, I began singing to myself the famous song from “The Wizard of Oz”

“Follow the yellow brick road. Follow the yellow brick road. Follow the follow the follow the follow the follow the yellow brick road..”

The road that Dorothy and her clan were following was to lead them to the ultimate farce, the Wizard of Oz. We know how their story turns out in the end. They followed this road, sticking to it regardless of what might have tried to hinder their way. I think this is an apt description for the road that I have been learning more and more about in this season of life.

This road is not lined with golden bricks. Rather it is lined with something much more precious. Peace.

We sing songs about it. We pray for it. We exult in it. We trust God for it. But how often do we follow after it?

Isaiah 55:12 says that we shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace; mountains and hills shall break forth into song..”

Being lead forth in peace means, to me at least, that the peace is there in front of us. Which leaves us with a choice. Do we follow after the peace? Or do we follow after our own understanding?

But what if peace means rejecting a job that we really want? What if peace means taking the road less traveled? What if peace leads us right into the middle of the greatest storm of our lives?

All of these are relevant questions, and I am convinced that following peace will do those things, because it is possible to have peace while still not being in a peaceful situation, but here is the only question that really counts.

What if following peace leads me to be right where God wants me?

Increasingly, I am seeing that following peace goes against my inclinations, because peace often doesn’t look like calm. Peace doesn’t look like the clean, perfectly manicured pathway. The true pathway to peace is filled with second-guessing, anxious moments, and prayers that involve some semblance of the words “Really God?”

Peace will take us into the dangerous zones. It will lead us into discord. It will lead us into seasons that we never imagined ourselves in, because peace is not a location, it is a settled heart, even if not quite a settled mind. And if we are to truly walk it’s pathway, we must be settled in our hearts that God walks with us. We must be willing to ignore both popular opinion and personal perspectives.

Peace is all about God. It is never about us.

So are you being lead? Are you following?

Be blessed.