Paper Cranes: Inspiration from a 4 Yr Old

My old man leads a cell group for his church. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, it’s basically a small group/Bible study group. His group consists of 4-5 couples, each with 1-2 kids ranging ages 1-12, I think. Most of them are 4-8 years old. Tonight, this group met up at my place for a post-Thanksgiving get-together.

As always, the kids are adorable, especially the 15 month old baby boy. The adults are interesting, too. Though most of them lean a slight bit east on the fob-twinkie spectrum, their English is fine. They’re white collar and haven’t experienced hardships in their youth like wars or famines (unlike some of our parents).

It’s not a stretch to say that they’re me in 15 years. So seeing them, their family dynamics, the way they raise their kids, I occasionally wonder, “is this a preview of what my life will be like?”

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But I digress.

I shuffled tonight between the dining room where the adults sat around the table sharing and listening and the family room where half the kids/toddlers were.

The other half ferried their noise back and forth, between the dining room and the family room. They were like Energizer bunnies that came pre-programmed with a route of my house.

In one trip, I tried to get as many of the kids together and show them how to make a paper crane to keep them quiet so that their parents could have undisturbed fellowship.

My origami students were four kids, ages 4,7,7, and 8. Step by step, I showed them how to fold the crane. And step by step, I did half the folding for them. Often, the kids wrestled for attention or had a hard time with the folds.

Finally, we finished. All four kids in my “class” had paper cranes.

About 10 minutes later, the 4 yr old boy asked if he could have the crane I folded in addition to the one he (read: I) had folded. I said, “sure”.

Immediately, another boy (not in the origami tutorial) said “no, I want it.”

I asked the 4 yr old to give the other boy one of his two cranes. I even tried to appeal to his inner desire to be the bigger man. Turns out he had no such desire.

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At the end of the night, once everyone had left, guess what I saw on the dining room table?

2 paper cranes scattered among wine glasses and disposable plates. I can’t be 100% sure that those 2 discarded cranes belonged to the 4 yr old, but they very well might’ve been, and they certainly lost value to some child or another.

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The above story doesn’t make me cry. It is not touching at all.

It just made me wonder how similar I am to that 4 yr old. There are only a few differences. Instead of paper cranes, it’s popularity, strength, wit, charm. Instead of wanting 2 cranes, it’s wanting 2 helpings of these things when others have one. Instead of being mesmerized by the crane for 30 minutes, it’s being mesmerized for days, months, years. And even if the infatuation lasts a lifetime, that’s still only a second in the scheme of eternity. So either way, my infatuations are shortsighted and fickle.

For the boy, the crane didn’t really interest him much. He clearly said “but I want two.” He just wanted to have more than his sister and the other kids. Am I so different?

And even though I identify this fault in me today (and probably have a few times before), won’t I fall for this trick again?

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I do not mean to sound depressing. This is just a part of life! It is human to be so foolish as to fall again and again for the same things.

This might be one of the hardest things for me in being a Christian: to remember and beLIeVE in the truth that God accepts and loves me despite my foolishness. And this is possible because Christ’s righteousness covers (NOT transforms) my foolishness.

A lot of condemnation and guilt I experience is self-made. Time to be freed from it. And I need this reminder daily.