Easier

the REST of the week #146

It’s the rest of the week. Shall we make things easier?

Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash

There is a colloquial expression describing something that is simple and easy—maybe you've used it:

"It's not rocket science."

The implication is that it doesn't get much harder than aerospace engineering and astrodynamics—unless that kind of thing comes naturally to you—unless you are Katherine Johnson.

Have you heard of her? She died in 2020 at the age of 101, an accomplished math researcher with an impressive list of awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and the NASA Group Achievement Award.

Math came naturally to Katherine. As a child, she counted everything--from the steps to church, to the dishes she washed. Katherine enrolled in highschool at the age of 10, graduating at the age of 14. She attended college and took every course in methematics offered. One of her professors added new mathematics courses to the curriculum--just for her.

At age 18, Katherine graduated summa cum laude with degrees in mathematics and French, taught for a while, and, after time focusing on her family life, attended graduate school. She settled on a career in math research which led to a job at NACA (which later became NASA).

Katherine calculated space flight trajectories with such precision that John Glenn (the first American to orbit the Earth) refused to launch until Katherine had verified the calculations that the relatively new electronic computers had provided,

Rocket science was easy for Katherine. It was what she enjoyed doing.

"Like what you do," she said, "and then you will do your best."

Describing her work at the NASA research center, she said, "I found what I was lookingf for... what a research mathematician did. I went to work every day for 33 years happy. Never did I get up and say I don't want to go to work."

Perhaps it is easier to find your purpose and show up as yourself when you have unique or specific interests, and exceptional talents.

Still, if you and I are each unique, with something to bring to this world that no one else can bring, perhaps it is worth noticing what that is. Surely it would be easier (and more enjoyable) to simply live that out--insteady of second guessing, critiquing, comparing, and trying to do everything according to an ideal we carry in our heads.

What I haven't told you about Katherine Johnson is that it wasn't all easy. There was the very hard part:

As an African-American, Katherine faced constant resistance and discrimination. Her parents had to take her to another county because there was no public schooling for black students where they lived. It took a Supreme Court ruling in 1938 to make graduate school accessible to her.

Segregation at work made the most basic daily activities challenging (such as having to walk to another building to use the "colored bathroom").

As a woman, Katherine was initially left out of important meetings and her name was left off reports that she'd worked on (until one of her colleagues pointed out that she'd done most of the work and to "just put her name on it").

The hard, however, was eclipsed by the joy of doing her thing, the focus on her work, the pursuit of doing what came easily, what she enjoyed. And when the discrimination stood in the way of that work, she pushed through it, bringing change and creating opportunities for others.

Essentially, she was being herself, unapologetically--which is why she could say:

"I don't have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I'm as good as anybody, but no better."

I wonder if there is a way to view ourselves, our work, and our world that would free us from trying hard at unnecessary things, that would redirect our attention to the things that bring life and hope?

And this brings me back, once again, to Jesus' invitation recorded in the Gospel of Matthew (11:28-19 NIV):

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

What are the things that weary you?

What feels like a burden?

What would it look like to let go of those things and be OK with where you are, right now?

What comes easily to you?

What do you look forward to doing?

What does it mean to take Jesus' yoke?

And to learn from him?

May you find your easy and may your rest be sweet.

Alicia