In her latest book, Packing for Mars, Mary Roach describes a scene where would be Japanese astronauts are forced to live together in cramped quarters while given tests to measure their psychological stamina.
One of these tests is The Thousand Cranes test where each person is given the task of folding one thousand origami cranes. Psychologists then compare the quality of the cranes at the beginning of the task with the very last cranes folded.
The directions for the origami crane are somewhat extensive and Roach describes watching her interpreter also try to fold a crane.
Roach writes: “My interpreter is folding a piece of notebook paper. She is at step 21, where the crane’s body is inflated. The directions show a tiny puff beside an arrow pointing at the bird. It makes sense if you already know what to do. Otherwise it’s wonderfully surreal: Put a cloud inside a bird.”
Well, there go any aspirations I may have of joining the Japanese space agency.
Inflate the bird? I can think of a thousand things I would consider first before inflating the bird.
Is the cloud there because it’s going to rain on the bird?
Is the crane on fire?
Does the crane have gas?
And most importantly, what am I supposed to do next?
I tend to over-think things.
There have been many times in my life when God has given me the equivalent of The Thousand Cranes test and I’ve spent hours, days or years thinking so hard, I don’t even get started … times when I’ve been so distracted by how to do something that rather than put one foot in front of the other and just go … I’ve chosen to do nothing instead.
Meanwhile I can imagine God standing over me, shaking his head and saying, “It’s just a crane, Kendra.”
Part of the beauty of the journey I started this past Easter when I attended Hope Episcopal Church for the first time is that this journey has been less about over-thinking and more about trust in God and the plans He has for me.
It was my grandmother who introduced me to the quote from Jeremiah 29:11 right before I was to head to college: “For I know the plans I have you … plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
These are words to hold onto. When faced with a challenge or a test, do we try and think our way out of it or do we allow God’s plan to simply come to be? Do we rely only on ourselves or do we trust God to do what He has promised?
The hardest thing in the world is to trust. But that is what faith is … trust.
Madeleine L’Engle writes in Walking on Water that “Faith is for what lies on the other side of reason. Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies and ambiguities and sudden, startling joys.”
Faith in God allows us to appreciate each Thousand Cranes test we are given. It keeps us from giving up. It keeps us from simply tearing up each crane into a million pieces and throwing it all over the room. Faith lets us rest. Faith lets us breathe. Faith lets us enjoy the ride no matter how perilous the journey.
