In 1974 while the Twin Towers were under construction, Philippe Petit a famous high-wire artist, who gained fame for his unauthorized high-wire walks between the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1971 and of Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1973, did the same between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.
With his team he rigged a 440-pound cable and with a balancing pole he went from one tower to the other. He actually did that 8 times. The story says that before he started walking on the wire he said: “I will cross over the wire, but I need your support, do you believe that I can make it?” His hole team said yes. He started walking and went to the other tower and came back.
When he came back, he saw a wheelbarrow and out of enthusiasm said to his team: “now I will cross to the other tower carrying that wheelbarrow. Do you believe that I am able to make it?” His team remained in silence, they had never seen him do that and they doubted whether he was able to or not. He repeated the question and added “come on I need your support, at least one, if one of you trusts in me, I will make it.” One of his team said: “yes, you can make it, I trust in you.” To which Philippe answered: “ok, if you really trust in me, get in the wheelbarrow and come with me.” He did not accept the proposal and Philippe did not cross with the wheelbarrow.
Sometimes our trust in Jesus is similar to the trust that this person had in Philippe. We say to Him in our prayers: “Lord I trust in you. I believe that all things work for good for those who love God (Rom 8:28).” However when something happens that I do not like, instead of trying to understand His Will, or looking for the good that is in this thing that I do not want, I complain and ask God “why did you send me this that I do not want?”
We usually look at the events of our life by just thinking about this life and not about eternal life. God thinks first of our salvation and then of our material wellbeing here on earth. Sometimes things that are good for our material wellbeing are not good for our salvation and the contrary as well. Therefore, we must not let our desire for wellbeing blind our supernatural vision. We must try to discover the supernatural good that is behind every single event in our life. We must try to understand daily occurrences using our faith rather than our human vision of things.
We must be sure that He will never send something that is not good for us. Jesus said this very clearly in the Gospel: If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? (Lk 11:13). Although it is difficult to understand the good that is behind some difficult situations, we must trust in Jesus’ words, understanding them to mean that God will never send something that is not helpful for our sanctification.
