The Last Paper Towel

I bet that title got your attention. Yep, you went back and read it again didn’t you? When I say, “last paper towel”, every single one of you can see it. You go to grab a paper towel and there is only one measly, wrinkled mess left sticking to that paper tube. The one that you don’t want to grab because it usually comes off in little pieces. The one, that if you did manage pull it off, means you have to go and hunt a new roll. The one that just doesn’t seem like it would get the job done if you pulled it off anyway. You all know exactly which towel I’m talking about and yes, the same goes for the toilet paper. Go ahead and laugh. We’ve all been there.

Now, what if I told you that without that last paper towel, the rest of the roll would not work correctly. Yep! You read that right. Without the last paper towel, the rest of the roll doesn’t work correctly. You see the last paper towel has to be glued down so that the rest of the roll will hold in place as it gets wound up into that beautiful, round cylinder, that holds a place of honor beside the kitchen sink. That last paper towel on the roll is actually the first towel to be attached to the roll. It is the foundation for the rest of the roll.

Matthew 20:16 popped into my mind. 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. I’m sure at this point you are asking what in the world has a paper towel got to do with Matthew 20:16? Actually, it has nothing but it did get me to thinking about myself and the people around me; about my church. What is our glue, our foundation? What do we (the church) have that holds everything in place? What or who exists, that if it, or they were not there, would make everything else unravel? What had to be in order for all the rest to fall into place? By now I’m sure you know the answer, God's Church. God and His Word is the foundation, the beginning for our very existence and we are the paper towels. If, even the smallest portion of God's church is torn away, the rest can unravel. So, even though the last paper towel seems absolutely unimportant, it is an analogy for the very existence of God’s church and the people within, all rolled into one beautiful, wrinkled mess.

Lord, may we all have the opportunity to be the last paper towel at some point in our life. Let us be the one that helps keep everything else in place when it counts. Let us serve a purpose, though it be lowly, even unto your glory. Amen