17 July 2019

The Lumpy Rug ~ Closing Thoughts


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.”
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