THE PURPOSE CORNER: THE TISSUE PAPER SAGA CONTINUES

I had the honour of using a public restroom last week. The toilet paper was positioned on top of the toilet tank (that thing that contains water for flushing). I observed that there were two of them (t-rolls).

“Do they have a thing for wastage or they're just generous?”, I asked myself.

Then I took a closer look and realized that the colours were different; one was white and the other was cream - similar enough to confuse me.

Then I noticed another thing,the textures were different, one was a bit gritty and lightweight whiles the other was smooth and heavier

That's when it clocked, there was an imposter. One was an original toilet paper, the other was a facial tissue paper for wiping your hands after hand washing.

Similar looking but not the same.

The tissue paper industry is a huge one. There's toilet paper, kitchen towels, facial tissue, napkins, wipes, decorative tissue etc. Their general purpose is cleaning (sometimes decorating) but the specific cleaning purpose of each is based on their absorbency and softness.

Isn't that a good illustration for how God made us - in His image and likeness, but with different purposes. There are people doing the the exact same things yet each one brings a touch that is unique to them.

We have the high honour of doing His will based on how we have been wired individually.

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It's a lazy Sunday afternoon, you just returned home from church. The itinerary for Sundays are fixed;

☑️Church

☑️Fufu and palmnut soup

☑️Long nap

You hurry to the kitchen after church, thankfully the soup has thawed. You take a saucepan and try to transfer the soup into it, in the process, your hands get soiled. After everything, you wash your hands under the sink and wipe them with tissue paper. But to your surprise, the tissue paper sticks to your hands, it doesn't do a good job wiping the water and leaves you to deal with the tiny pieces of paper that gets stuck on the hand. That is when you realise that it is actually toilet paper you picked in a rush.

Imagine the frustration that happens when you realise the mistake. A wrong tissue paper for a task is not necessarily catastrophic but that does not make it right either. That is the same thing that happens when we pose to be something we are not. When we look at the lives of others with envy, when we copy and paste blindly because they seem to be doing well. We might deceive everybody but the Manufacturer. Living a life that is stressing you and those around you because you have not made peace with your uniqueness.

A good understanding of your purpose is realizing your boundaries. Realizing what to pursue and what is not your “thing”.

In the Bible, some were prophets, some were kings, some were judges, some were ordinary people. The prophets did not leave their jobs and try to rule nations, they were content with where God had placed them.

John the Baptist spent his life preaching one message, “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand”, there is no record of him healing the sick or raising the dead (John 10:41). He stuck to his job description - preparing the way for the Messiah- and delivered.

Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, knew His boundaries. He knew that He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel (Matthew 15:24) and that the rest of the world would be the duty of His disciples.

And then there are others with “two heads” lol who had side gigs and side quests plus their main hustle. David was one of those, a king today, a priest tomorrow, prophesying at dawn with an album release in two days. Even he was told that some things were not part of his job description (hint: when God told him not to build the temple but to leave that job to Solomon in 1 Chronicles 22: 7-10).

This is a reminder to give yourself peace. Jesus has already completed the most important job of saving us, yours is to find your “thing” or "things" and pursue "it"or "them" relentlessly.

To be honest, your “thing” will change as you go through seasons. There are stuff you might not feel a passion for now but will feel for later. Being in tune with God is realizing that maybe in your twenties, He might have increased your absorbency and called you a facial tissue but in your forties, He has stripped off some layers of paper but made you tough and resilient like a kitchen towel. The path you walked then is not the same path you walk now though they might all be leading to the same destination - honouring God.

Even Jesus who was sent to only the lost sheep of Israel bent the rules to accommodate gentiles like He did with the Syro-phoenician woman whose daughter was tormented by a demon (Matthew 15:21-28).

Like a balloon, God can choose to inflate (increase the number of your expressions) or deflate (reduce the number of things you do), either way if He commanded it, then He is glorified.