In life there are so many roads to choose from. So many paths that can and will lead to so many different outcomes. And while I’m not a Rhodes scholar, I do feel like I am a “Roads” Scholar, so over the next few blog posts, I’d like to share what I’ve learned from six specific roads I’ve taken: the Low Road, the High Road, the Long Road, the Road Less Traveled, the Fork in the Road, and the Yellow Brick Road. 

This week’s lesson learned shares some outcomes from taking the YELLOW BRICK Road.

Taking the Yellow Brick Road

4 minute Read
By Bethany Rees

The “Yellow Brick Road” Definition according to Rocks Before Sand: The path, and all the experiences it encompasses, that we take to find identity, purpose, and contentment in our lives.  

The Wizard of Oz is one of my all time favorite movies with some of the best characters and fanciful lands ever written. 

And honestly, it wasn’t until I was in a college history class that I learned that this amazing story was actually a political allegory for the Populist movement in America (farmers/industrial workers vs  bankers/capitalists). 

In thinking about the infamous story, there are several lessons we can learn aside from 1900 turn of the century politics from Dorothy’s adventure down the yellow brick road.

Dorothy represents "everyman." We are Dorothy. 

And like Dorothy, we can often find ourselves in situations of trouble, problems, or complacency. We start longing for and daydreaming of an easier life “somewhere over the rainbow” where dreams come true and “troubles melt like lemon drops.” 

And then we run.

We run away from our current situations to chase that life over the rainbow only to experience a tornado’s worth of more troubles?

It seems that we are always running FROM and never running TO. We run FROM conflicts and commitments because they become too hard to deal with but rarely run TO humility, hard work, and reconciliation.

So our tornado experience takes us to a place where we crash land, make a few enemies, lose ourselves and just want to go home. 

But God is good and always provides us with a yellow brick road to find our way back “home” (to identity, purpose and contentment within our lives).  

The yellow brick road signifies your journey and experiences through life trying to get back home. The yellow brick road with its twists and turns provides new experiences and lessons learned and it also introduces us to new friends along the way. 

Again like Dorothy, along our yellow brick road, we meet friends. Friends, who like us, are searching for fulfillment in their own lives. Some are in search of wisdom (Scarecrow wanting a brain), some in search of love (Tinman wanting a heart), and some searching for significance (cowardly Lion wanting courage). 

As we all travel our yellow brick road together, we find not only companionship but cheerleaders and rescue squads for those moments when we get swept up by the flying monkeys in our lives. 

Finding and embracing a tribe of friends along the way is what helps keep us on our yellow brick road back home. 

Had Dorothy not found and had a tribe of good friends, think about how different her journey would have been. 

Imagine her not having supportive friends along the long journey, but instead only snapping pictures of munchkins, talking trees, and flying monkeys for her instagram to show the world how wonderful her adventure was…when behind the posts was a lonely soul searching for home. 

Dorothy needed her friends to not only survive the journey physically and mentally, but to learn about herself along the way. It was the connection with real friends that she found down her yellow brick road that helped her learn what she needed to find her way home. 

So as you journey down your own yellow brick road to find yourself, your purpose, and your contentment, look around at the amazing friends God has put in your life to help you along your journey. They won’t be perfect and will be searching for their own fulfillment, but they aren’t meant to be your answer…those imperfect characters are meant to be your companions on your journey. 

You need community and friends to walk with you through life, so find your tribe and travel together down that yellow brick road.

And remember, while your circumstances and the people in your life aren’t perfect…there’s no place like home.

If you are struggling to find friend groups to support you along your Yellow Brick Road, I encourage you to join a small group through a local church. Small groups are where you can be real and "do life" with each other.

Know Better. Do Better. Live Better. Find Friends on the Yellow Brick Road!

Rocks before Sand!

Scripture: 

“For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”

~Ecclesiastes 4:10

Theme Song: 

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

References Used:

• Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Oxford University Press, 2010.
• Vidor, King, et al. The Wizard of Oz. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), 1939.
• The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.