One of my favourite stories has always been ‘The Calling of Mahud’.
I’ll tell it now and then comment.
Mahud was a simple man who lived in a small village and made his living by selling vegetables in a busy market. He was comfortable enough and liked his work until one day, the angel Khabir appeared and told him to jump in the river. Without thinking about it, Mahud leapt in to the flowing water.
He was carried downstream until a man on the shore threw him a rope and pulled him out. The man offered Mahud a job in his fishing business and a small room where he could live. Mahud appreciates the man’s kindness and takes the job. He works there for three years, quite happily, and then Khabir appears again and tells him to move on.
Mahud obeyed immediately and walked from village to village until, in one place, a man offered him a job in his fabric shop. This was new to Mahud but he took the job and learned the trade and worked there relatively happily until the angel appeared again and sent him on.
Mahud worked at odd jobs for years in this manner, always moving on when the angel instructed.
When Mahud was old, he had gained the reputation of a holy man. People began coming to him with their illnesses and worries, begging him for cure and counsel. One day, a visitor to his village asked him, ‘Mahud, how did you get to where you are now?’
Mahud thought for a moment, and said, ‘It’s difficult to say.’
It was difficult to say because Mahud’s only skill was to listen to the angel Khabir, whose name means ‘The All Aware’. His only skill was to live the life offered with courage and openness.
And my reflections?
Mahud wasn’t in control of his life and neither are we. And this is OK. It’s the truth of how things are – and it’s OK.
We can push at doors and they may or may not open. If they do not open, we are not diminished. If they do open, we are not enhanced. We just go with the unfolding.
Seasons come and go. One thing comes along after another, which we may or may not have asked for. We’re never really ready for anything but live it as best we can until something else arises.
Mahud enjoyed some jobs more than others.
We’ll not waste our time on regrets; they have no value, they are fiction. If we need to apologise, then we do so, and return to reality.
As we accept life rather than resist it, like Mahud, we become strangely wise.
We’re not in control of our lives, we’ll sometimes jump in rivers, and this is quite OK.
