Moving Mountains

watch original V-Blog in Persian

I was sitting in a restaurant with my friends a few days ago, when a lady who was at the adjacent table struck up a conversation with us. She told us that she lived in Dubai, owned a bank and was also in the construction industry. The lady was barely 40 but already had a daughter and a grandchild who sat with her and smiled. Overzealous or prodigious? I'm not sure. She told us that, with the money she made, she was able to give back to society and help orphaned kids in Iran. Granted, it was a strange thing to say to people you hardly know. But remember, Persians (and this was a chello kababi) often jump right into being confidants and skip the formalities.

My friend Mehrshad then said to me, it would be so good to be rich and be able to help people like that. And it's true, people like Oprah Winfrey are able to give from their own pocket and build an entire school. These services are vital and important. However, I am very cautious about saying, 'once I have money, once I get somewhere, then I will do something'. I think that's precisely the paradigm that paralyzes so many of us. We have our jobs and lives and we make ends meet. Then separately, we have our dreams and our visions; to open a girl's school, to create a scholarship, and similar lofty dreams. We think that once we get somewhere in society and receive worldly status, we can move mountains and make a difference. But having met some amazing people in the last few years who have moved mountains by their sheer faith and action, I have changed my mind.

While it is good to give when we have, I believe we can give no matter what our situation is. For example, in one of my earlier vlogs I spoke about an organization I sometimes work with called the African Children's Choir (ACC). This organization helps orphans all over Africa. The man who founded the ACC, Ray Barnett, has never had a proper job in his whole life. He has never had a stable income, or wealth, and he's even challenged with dyslexia. Despite all his seeming shortcomings from a worldly perspective, he has been able to turn around the lives of thousands of children for the better. All he has had is a vision, faith in God that the right things will be provided and restless action. His restlessness reminds me of Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happiness. He just doesn't give up. Through action he has attracted funders all over the world, and inspired miracles.

For example, last year he prayed about what to do with the new orphans he had recruited. He needed a home for them. He found an old school, which no one was using. The price was low compared to other similar buildings, but still required a couple of million rand. He found a person who was rich and willing to help by lending him the sum of money without interest. However, the man wanted his money back at the end of the year. Ray had prayed about it and felt he knew that this was the right thing to do, although he had no idea how he was going to pay off the bill at the end of the year. He decided to act on faith.

Now recently, just a few weeks ago, the deadline was drawing near and Ray began praying fervently for guidance. He had felt that he had been doing the right thing by helping these orphans and he needed some divine intervention to help them retain their home.

A few days before he was due to pay his debt back, there was a knock on the door and an unsolicited, unexpected buyer appeared on the steps, offering Ray more than twice the price that he had paid for the school! Of course Ray was very excited. He sold the school, paid his debt off and used the rest of his money to buy an even better piece of land for his orphans. What a story.

I think the paradigm to look out for here, is that first we have to take the step, risk our comfort and our security, and then the blessings come. It is not the other way around. Instead, we wait in our comfort zones for wealth and security to come to us, before we are willing to take a step. I think that we can all move mountains, no matter who we are and how little we have. We just need to wake up to the fact that this life is actually governed by the rules of the spiritual world first, not the contingent world, although it often seems like the latter. (Think: The Matrix!) We just need to tap into that spiritual world and try to walk a path of faith. Then the blessings will come.