Katherine’s Kicker – “All the Time”
A Fitting word for Partners, Parents, and All of Us
Her question stuck with me like Velcro to its counterpart. Looking up from her Bible, Valerie (I’ll call her) had asked the study group, which included me, “Okay, I understand we can’t earn our way into God’s favor, that such favor is God’s free gift. But having received that free gift what are we to do to please God — we who are no Billy Grahams or Mother Teresas. Our heart’s desire is to please him, but — speaking practically — how do we?” Valerie looked at me with pleading eyes. I had no answer but the question stayed with me.
It’s a Great Question
And it’s asked many ways. Like: If my time here on earth is to be a fruit-bearer for God, then what is that fruit and how much should I produce? Or, simply put: What should be my life’s mission? With this question or its facsimile still ringing in my head I came across these words of writer, speaker, and pastor Frederick Buechner: The world is full of people who seem to have listened to the wrong voice and are now engaged in life-work in which they find no pleasure or purpose and who run the risk of suddenly realizing some day that they have spent the only years that they are ever going to get in this world doing something which could not matter less to them or anybody else. That’s when a name popped into my mind with her mindset along with it. She’s African American. She reached age 101 before her recent death. She’s my hero. She’s Katherine Johnson. Her life’s mantra in nine little words — upon which I’ll focus my thoughts the rest of this page — is deceptively simple: I do the best I can all the time.
Who is Katherine Johnson?
If you saw the movie Hidden Figures you saw a documentary of her life. Johnson, unknown, was hidden away at NASA until it was recognized that she not only saved lives but was instrumental in establishing America’s space program. She was a human computer before the other kinds were invented. With a slide-rule and an adding machine Johnson’s computations became the official figures that were used to put men in space, enable them to walk on the moon and bring them safely home. And while these things were happening Katherine Johnson — though most definitely kept online -— was stashed away with two or three others (like her) in an outer office, isolated from the NASA complex due to the misfortune of segregation. Though racial and gender barriers were always there, Katherine simply ignored them. In reflecting on all this, her humble (and humorous) response was, “I didn’t feel the segregation at NASA. ... You had a mission and you worked on it, and it was important to you to do your job …. and play bridge at lunch.”
“I Do the Best I Can”
I’m suggesting these six words to be, in the main, the answer to Valerie’s question (above). Why? Because:
1. It’s within my reach and everyone’s reach no matter our aptitude or giftedness yet uses our every gift.
2. It has to do with me alone, who I really am, not a pretense of myself for whatever reason I may project it.
3. It’s not about impressing others, competing with others, or comparing myself with other’s achievements.
4. It does not even imply perfection, achievement, or excellence, and it has room for failure.
5. It means doing the best I can under any circumstance, but doesn’t mean inventing hurtful circumstances.
6. It’s what I do best and enjoy most.
7. It simply means being the best version of me at the moment. Could God ask for anything more?
The Big Kicker — “ALL THE TIME”
Katherine’s mantra is meaningless without the last three words. Anyone can do the best they can once, or twice, or maybe all day long. But all day long every day is another animal. In April 1970, when Apollo 13 aborted its moon-landing mission to simply get the crew back to earth alive after an oxygen tank exploded, commander Jim Lovell showed his trust in Johnson. At a critical juncture he was told by NASA to enter a configured value into the craft’s system. Lovell refused to obey the order until he got Katherine Johnson’s approval of the computation. He trusted her because he knew she did the best she could all the time.
A Role Model to Boot
It’s little wonder that Katherine Johnson’s words strike a godly chord. She was 50 years an active member of Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church in Newport News where she sang in the choir and served as a Ruling Elder. Johnson’s Christian faith guaranteed her admission that she was not beyond error and failure. I’m with her on that count, and I’m also with her — though humbly — in making her stated mission my own.
It’s my prayer that you will join me — you who are spouses, parents, or anybody who wishes with God’s help to (if you haven’t already) aim at doing the best you can all the time. Amen.
Katherine Johnson