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.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

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The Lumpy Rug ~ Pretty Little Lies

Greetings Dear Reader,

Being back in the South makes one well aware of the lies we grew up telling.  I am not talking about the lies we use to deceive and avoid guilt or discovery.  I am talking about the social lies we tell each other every day.  The lies we tell to drift through interactions with ease and to avoid discomfort.

I watch this unfold at social gatherings often.  One person enquires as to the state of another and in most cases, the little lie is told.  We are fine.  Things are going well.  Instead of honest responses, we give out the expected social response.  Last Tuesday I encountered an acquaintance whom I know well enough to stop and have a conversation.  She was standing, crying in a store.

As I approached, I could see her try to pull herself together.  I inquired, “What is wrong?  How can I help you?”

She looked at me with deep green, watered makeup, raccoon eyes and said through freely flowing tears, “Oh I am fine.”

I stepped through the lie and said, “I am not going to pry.  I care that you are having difficulty.  Is there anything I can do for you?”

She proceeded to tell me that she was overwhelmed by some news she had just received.  I listened.  We prayed right there by the pretzels and crisps.  She managed a wane smile when we were done.  Inside the pretty little lie was the opportunity to help.    

One of the truths about lies is that if we tell them enough, we begin to believe them.  The lie we believe, that we are “fine” is rarely true.  The truth we must find behind pour social lies is that there are others who will care.  We do matter more than we think. 

We also lie to ourselves by thinking we are right and others are wrong.  We do not hear our approach and assume that we are just being honest when what we are doing is lying.  We think that we are softer, more diplomatic, and more in the right that we actually are.  We are cloaking our own failure to be inclined to the hearts of others in escalation and argument.  This lie hurts us and others.

These poor social interactions, coupled with others make for lumpy rugs that eventually trip us all.  The entire idea of communication is supposed to be an exchange of honest love with humility and grace.  Instead, we build a social house of cards that is easily toppled with the first wind of honesty.  When it falls, if that honesty is not loving, kind, and gentle, we are not serving that which is good.  We are not following as we should Dear Reader.

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:

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels on Amazon             

Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com

Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com

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The Lumpy Rug ~ Hidden Things

Greetings Dear Reader,

Rugs have a purpose.  They are designed to create safe, soft, comfortable travel across flooring that would otherwise be hard or uncomfortable.  A rug that is thick, smooth, and soft can provide ease of movement and even a comfortable place to stretch out or stand.

There are things in all of us that nobody else knows.  Whether they be struggles, pains, or indulgences, they are kept in our dark closet as the secrets that we want no one to know.  There are also the fears and doubts with which we wrestle that we dare not reveal.

When we have too much of this, we end up with a rug that is more lumps than soft navigable space.  Even small lumps can make for a hazard that can trip us up when we are unaware.  We can fall when we are simply walking to our comfy chair.  Our lives can blow up when we are having dinner or watching baseball.  The dark secrets will out and they will betray us. 

The first defense against this is to stop keeping secrets.  When we begin to clean out the things under the rug, we learn who loves us and who does not.  We will see who will stand with us and who will reject us.  It will hurt and it will be hard.  It is also a great way to create a navigable path home.

The other side of this coin is that I must be there for those seeking to clear their rugs of lumps.  I must love them where they are and deal with them in mercy, grace, and kindness.  There is no debt owed us by others that is greater than the need to see that debt in light of his or her need. 

What does it really cost us to clean our own secret lumps a little by caring for others who are cleaning theirs?   I think it helps us.  We are meant to be a people who can share every struggle honestly with our fellow travelers and receive love and support for doing so.  Instead, we weave a tapestry of lies to hide our hurts and fears.  We colour it with our sins and flaws that we use to protect us from the truth.  The great lie is that none of it works.  Then we trip and are laid bare before those who are supposed to love us. 

We find that we are at the mercy of those who are supposed to be merciful.  We are in need of grace from those who are required to be gracious.  Our need is for love without fail from those who are supposed to be identified by love.  Perhaps we should try harder to do this for each other Dear Reader.  What do you think? 

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:

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels on Amazon             

Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com

Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com

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The Lumpy Rug ~ Opening Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

When I was seven, I had a goldfish.  I cannot recall his name.  One afternoon, however, I came home from school and he was simply gone from his bowl.  None of the adults in my home seemed interested or to care. 

A few days later I noticed a bad smell in my room.  It was one of those really bad decay smells and I traced it to a part of the area rug that covered the hardwood floor.  Under the rug lay my dead goldfish.  I cleaned it up and went to tell mom.  My sister heard me and started crying. 

She had “fed” my fish for me after I went to school the day he went missing.  She had given him entirely too much food and he had burst open.  She had hidden the dead fish thinking that no one would notice.  We have laughed about it often since.  If you read Sheetrock on the Road, you will learn that she, pets, and I are not a good mix.

That, however, is not the point here.  I am looking through the flotsam and jetsam in my mind at the things we “sweep” under the rug.  When we do this, at the minimum the rug gets lumpy.  Some things begin to putrefy and stink.  Some become deadly poisons to relationships.  The death of relationships always leads to the discovery of things swept under it during the postmortem. 

Perhaps if we examine things, we make into rug lumps the light of truth combined with love can show us a way to remove them before they begin to stink and destroy.  No relationship is easy if it is real.  No problem is unsolvable if we deal with love and grace.  Walk with me a bit as we feel out the carpet for lumps that can trip us up in the journey.  As always Dear Reader, your interactions, thoughts, and questions are precious to me.

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:

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels on Amazon             

Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com

Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com

Facebook        Google +    Twitter     

Medium   Instagram  Kids BLOG   

This BLOG:  http://aramisthorn.blogspot.com/