a lovely way to help

I’m not sure how I got there other than through a link to a link to a link… but there I was. Clicking had led me to a way I could help, when all I can seem to do is watch and feel helpless. Paper cranes for Japan? Yes. In fact, I knew we were already ahead of the game, the way her fingers fold them like lightening just because. When I told Laura about the project, she smiled and walked way, returning with…

more than one hundred paper cranes. She is my origami girl.

She asked for a box to mail them and I thought they might fit into a big envelope. I started taking them out, one by one, so many different sizes and out of so many kinds of paper. Big solid construction paper, scrawled notes across lined notebook sheets, the thin colorful origami paper, shiny gum wrappers… and this one I folded from the church bulletin on my birthday. I almost told her she should save it out... but I stopped myself. To second-guess her gift would be robbing her of a blessing, and time after time I remind myself that she has her own mind, her own ideas… her own way of sharing her heart. Instead I moved on, realizing I was wrong about the envelope, but wanting to see the rest of her beauties.

And then? She asked me to fold with her. In Africa I couldn’t quite get it… but I was willing to try again. She was patient. She was kind. And it was fun! Eventually I finished two all by myself, without looking to her expertise and asking now this?

Our box will go out soon. It may be one of one, or it may be one of two… only time will tell. And when Paper Cranes for Japan has collected 100,000? Money will be donated, and the colorful birds will be used to create an art display. I imagine it… and wonder how anyone could possibly create something more beautiful than the joining of thousands of hearts.