I’ve been thinking a lot about poop, mostly because I visited the elephant poo poo paper park recently. Besides the baskets full of poo (mostly elephant poo, but there is also water buffalo poo, cow poo, and horse poo) there is also an informative display on the history of paper and paper making (admit it you’ve touched or used a piece of paper today, haven’t you?) as well as the actual stages of the paper making process being carried out on the premises. Then of course there is the gift shop where you can buy all of their wonderful paper products (or there’s a section to make your own as well).
So the poop park has got me thinking about life and God as well and the parallels between making poop paper and God’s work in our lives. You start with the poo, in the same way that many people come to God with a life that seems to be pure crap. And most people think there’s nothing valuable or useful about poo. Certainly it isn’t something they want around.
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Then the useful fibers in the poo have to be separated from everything else (dirt, rocks, etc.). Once all these things have been removed, the fibers are softened by literally boiling them to a pulp (which also kills all the bacteria that are still in there). So too God starts to remove things from our lives and soften us up to be more easily used and shaped by him.
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The pulp is shaped into balls. And then the balls are dropped in water to disintegrate and spread out in a thin layer over a screen. Sometimes we feel like we’re falling apart as well and drowning in our circumstances, but it could be just part of God’s process of making us strong and useable. Of learning to rely on something else to catch us.
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Finally, the screens are set up to dry and let all the water drain off. All that can be done is wait for the fibers to dry and bond together to produce a full sheet of paper. And sometimes we’re in that waiting period of waiting for what God has done in and with us to become our new source of strength and the thing that holds us together.
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When the paper is dry and ready, it is cut and shaped into beautiful (or humorous) and useful creations (and although I think the irony of toilet paper made from poo would make it an instant best seller, that is not one of the products offered).
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So the next time you feel like your life is just crap and you are falling apart. Remember the elephant poo poo paper and believe the God can turn the crap in your life into something useful and valuable.
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