Mathematics can be a slippery slope. Not the fallacy that we all like to argue about, but rather a well worn ramp that we slide down reluctantly at first and then excitedly, gaining speed with zest! We begin the adventure down in our young years when we marvel at the beautiful creatures that God made and how they are both predictable and wild. Each fall brings the migrating geese, while the spring blooms with song birds. These patterns are first beautiful to us, but then we want to know more. What are these patterns and what do they communicate about the creator? What is the truth behind the beauty?
We dive into the world of Algebra where we are excited to learn how the patterns of the world are explained and predicted, but get hung up with the grammar of a new language. We reluctantly wrestle with new expressions, sentences, and rules. Entering Geometry, we glimpse the pattern's beauty again while understanding some of the language that we need to communicate clearly. We have started to slip further down the slope.
Precalculus and trigonometry are where we gain speed. All at once, the mysteries of the world are revealed to us in a whole new way. We know how to communicate with variables and changing values, and we start to see how to translate the world's patterns into this language. It is beautiful yes, but its truth and goodness are now evident to us and we take joy in the journey. We now know that the struggle is worth it. That we want to know how to understand more of the world and predict more of nature, know more about God, and bask in His glory. We successfully slide down the ramp seeing that the work the Lord gives us is hard, but not burdensome.