Robert Foote, Temple President, Stake Conference, November 5, 2022
My thoughts today have been inspired by Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding,” and by a story Dayane Kendrick shared with the Kasson Branch members. The images created in my mind by this story have given me many opportunities for introspection and self reflection.
In the nineteenth century the greatest tightrope walker in the world was a man named Charles Blondin. He hoped to accomplish something that had never been done before. He hoped to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. In June of 1859, he did become the first person in history to walk on a tightrope across Niagara Falls/Gorge suspended 160 feet above the water. 25,000 people gathered to watch him walk 1100 feet on a rope 3 inches in diameter which he did without a net or a safety harness of any kind. When he safely reached the Canadian side of the falls, the crowd burst into cheers. Blondin yelled to them, “I’m going to do it again. But this time with a wheelbarrow full of rocks” which he did. In fact, he successfully crossed Niagara Falls on the tightrope over and over again. Once he did it with baskets on his feet, he did it blindfolded with a sack over his head, he crossed walking backwards, once he stopped and did a backward somersault, he crossed it on stilts, and once on a bicycle. One time he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet in the middle of the rope! The crowd went crazy.
At one point Blondin stopped and asked the audience: “Do you believe I can carry a person across in a wheelbarrow or on my back?” The crowd enthusiastically yelled, “Yes! We believe. You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. You can do anything.” Blondin responded, “Okay,” “If you really believe, who wants to get into the wheelbarrow or on my back?” The crowd laughed at first but then fell silent when they realized that he was serious. No one accepted his offer. They had seen him do it. They knew he could do it. But no one would get in his wheelbarrow or on his back. Except his manager, Harry Colcord. He had complete faith and trust in Blondin. He climbed onto Blondin’s shoulders and back. Blondin told him, “Whatever you do, hold on, don’t let go. If I move to the right, you move to the right, if I move to the left, you move to the left.” At the beginning of the walk the rope was very tight. But a few hundred feet out over the falls, the rope was loose, and swayed back and forth with the wind and their weight. Between Harry Colcord, Blondin and a 45 pound balancing beam, there was over 300 pounds of weight on the rope. When they were halfway across the falls, the weight caused the rope to sag 50 feet lower than on the edge. Blondin realized the only way he would have enough momentum to make it up the rope and safely to the other side was to run. And so he ran, with Harry on his back, and a balancing beam in his hands, up the rope safely to the other side of the falls, using all his energy, which caused him to sweat profusely.
Why is this story meaningful to me? First, I see Blondin as a “type” of Christ. Jesus Christ is the greatest of all God’s children. He is the only begotten Son of the Father. Jesus Christ accomplished something that had never been done before in the history of the world, the atonement. He was crucified, died, and resurrected, giving the gift of immortality to all of God’s children. He has carried the weight of all the sins and illnesses of every child of God that ever was and ever will be born. He has carried this weight in his hands and on his shoulders, which caused Him, even the Son of God, to sweat great drops of blood from every pore, so that we can make it safely back home to our Heavenly Father, and qualify for exaltation and eternal life. (See Alma 7:11-13, Isaiah 53) He has invited us to come follow Him, to become like Him, to hear Him, and to let God prevail in our life. He has invited us to receive the ordinances of salvation and to make covenants with our Father in Heaven in His holy house. He has invited us, figuratively, to get in His wheelbarrow, to climb on His shoulders and back.
Second, this story has caused me to do some soul searching. Do I believe in Him? Do I believe Him? Do I have faith in Him? Do I trust Him? Am I willing to submit my will to His will? Am I willing to climb in His wheelbarrow or onto His back? Am I willing to let Him carry me along the covenant path? It won’t be easy. We will need to hold on to Him and not let go and be ready to make unexpected moves with Him. There will be deep water to wade through and tall mountains to climb. There will be dens of lions and fiery furnaces. But He will be there with us to get us safely to the other side. I have asked myself, am I “all in” or not? Am I willing to ask Jesus, as the young man did, “What lack I yet?” (See Matthew 19:20). Am I willing, like Lamoni’s father “to give away all my sins to know God, to be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day?”(See Alma 22:18). I do believe in Him and I believe what He has taught. I have faith in Him. By serving Him in His holy house, I am learning to trust Him more and more each day. He is the only way.