Greetings Dear Reader,
My Grandmother used
to actually beat her rugs. She would
take them out in the early Spring and early Autumn and hang them over the
strong clothesline. She had a rug beater
that looked like a large wire butterfly. I would watch and she would let me hit the
bottom of the rug a few times.
She would explain that
you had to get the dirt out of the rug or it would grind against the jute that
held it together. That was how you got
holes in the rug. What also amazed me was
the amount of dirt that was on the floor under the rug after we took it up to
beat it. Whilst the rug was hanging in the fresh air, we would sweep the room together.
We would talk about how she used to have to clean and beat all the rugs
in the orphanage where she grew up.
Janie, my
Grandmother never swept anything under the rug.
She spoke her mind. Most of the time
it was loving and kind. If you resisted
the truth, however, she did not mind swatting the dirt out of the rug. I am not speaking of physical violence, but
rather, she would press with cunning until you yielded what you were
hiding. In a different time and place, she would have been a successful interrogator.
Things left under
the rug make the rug less useful. They
erode its foundation. They pile up until
they are obvious and unavoidable. It is
my duty to deal with everything. In
trying to do so, I have faced rejection, anger, and even hatred from
others. Part of cleaning the rug is facing
the truth that dirt gets everywhere. I have
also found peace and freedom from the things that roiled inside me for so
long. I have rekindled some friendships
that mattered to me.
As I begin to understand
and deal with the failures and the root of those failures, I see the need to be
more loving and kinder to others. I read
a quote from Bill Johnson recently that reached deep into my rug cleaning
needs. “Stop making what someone did to
you be bigger than what Jesus did for you.”
We all have our
hidden hurts, sins, and damage. In Christ
alone can we find the real healing that will carry us down the path to
home. It occurs to me that when we sweep
things under the rug, we are using an act of cleaning to create the need for further
cleaning later. It is not pleasant but
it is true.
As I move on to
other things, let me know if you need help hanging a rug or two so that you can
get to what is under it. Be kind and
gentle about it if you could, Dear Reader.
I am sore from beating and sweeping my own rugs that have become heavy
with years of dust and debris.
Wishing you joy in
the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus
said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of
Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new
and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis Thorn:
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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