Stay on the Path

I have a friend, Brandon, who used to be in the infantry. He was trained to defuse improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which are homemade bombs left on the sides of the roads and others places to be detonated upon the passing of troops.

The bomb crews were taught to defuse or remove the IEDs in such a way that they created a cleared path for other troops to follow. As they worked, they would spray paint the edges of the path, so the safe path could be identified easily.

The crews were taught rigid self-discipline, because when an IED exploded, the natural reaction of people nearby was to run as fast as they could in directions roughly perpendicular to the road. Of course, this caused them to run into the proximity of other IEDs or land mines, so even more lives were lost from the explosion of the initial IED.

The simple rule of the bomb crews was, “Stay on the path,” where the greatest safety was to be found.

Life has its own paths, and most are marked with a kind of spray paint—describing the laws that govern happiness and warning us of the fear, selfishness, anger, and more that litter the fields like so many IEDs or land mines. When we become afraid, we tend to wander off the path and right into the dangers that have a great potential to cause emotional and spiritual harm.

Stay on the path. Stay on the path that you have cleared of the feelings and behaviors that will hurt you, and then your chances of peace and joy will be increased manifold.