Forgiveness Is A Heart Cleanser

Ivarie and Devon were shocked when their fourteen-year-old daughter and twelve-year-old son demanded a family meeting as they stepped inside from school. Both sat on the sofa, curiosity lining their faces as they waited for them to take their bags to their room. Ivarie checked her phone to see if anyone from their school had sent her a warning or a message.

“Anything,” Devon, her husband asked.

“No,” she answered on the edge of frustration. “Did you check your phone?” she almost whispered.

“The father is the last person the school is going to call. Mothers first,” he reminds her.

“Damn!” she said, positioning herself more comfortably, as her children walked towards them into the living room. Ivarie tried reading their expressions but could identify nothing.

Devina, her daughter spoke first, rolling her eyes at her parents, “Today at school, some children were talking about the fun they had with their grandparents.”

“Damn!” Ivarie said under her breath.

“Mom, we don’t know your side of the family. I don’t know my grandparents or your two sisters and one brother. Why not?” Devina demanded.

“And I don’t want to marry my half-sister,” Ivan, her son said.

Three pairs of eyes turned to him in shock.

“You have an outside child I don’t know about?” Ivarie turned to her husband and demanded.

“You all know my side of the family,” Devon said, removing himself.

Ivarie pulled him back on the sofa saying, “You are supposed to support me here.”

“Which half-sister don’t you want to marry?” Devon asked his son.

“I am just saying I don’t know my family,” he elaborates.

“Dad, we don’t know a lot about Mom’s family. I could be in the same class with my cousin and don’t know,” Devina explained.

“She doesn’t talk to her family,” Devon pointed to his wife.

Ivarie sighed, realizing that her only daughter was serious. Then, she informs, “I deliberately kept you away from my family because I don’t want them messing up your lives like what they did to mine.”

“Mom, we know about the abuse you endured,” Devina notified.

Swinging around quickly to her husband, Ivarie accuse, “You told my daughter about what they did to me?”

“Dad didn’t tell us anything,” Devina covered for her father. “I heard you over the years telling a few of your best friends over the phone. Mom, we are little people, not stupid.”

Ivan adds, “Mom, we noticed you have no family pictures here too.”

Ivarie sighed deeply, reading the message on her phone, then shared, “Life does everything at the right time. My Mom just died.”

“What!” both children cried out.

Easing off the sofa, she continued, “One of my Aunts just informed me,” her phone in her hand. “I planned for this moment to attend the funeral alone.”

“Can we go?” Devina begged.

Ivarie nods.

Silence spoke for a while and Devina hugged her Mom saying, “I know you survived and have forgiven all of them. But your children should know who to avoid.”

Devon’s eyes clashed with his wife, mixed in with shock, and he nodded in agreement.

One week later, Ivarie’s siblings were shocked to see her and her family at their mother’s wake. Her Aunt Dorsey stepped in immediately, “Wrong timing!”

She had to be the mediator at the funeral too, but couldn’t control Ivarie’s two sisters and one brother at the burial.

Ionie screamed as their mother’s casket was lowered, “I hope Satan punished her for what she did to us.”

“And he whipped her with electric cords as she did to us,” Ira, her only son, adds.

“I hope he chained her to one of hell’s flaming radiators like she did to us,” Iyanna threw in.

They all stared at Ivarie who eased closer to her mother’s casket, threw a single red rose in, and said, “Thank you.”

“How dare you come here with your happy family, pretending that, that devil was an angel!” Ionie screamed, pointing to her mother’s casket.

The rest of the family and friends eased back away from them.

As her sibling released their anger, Ivarie’s family formed a protective shield around her.

“You walk in here as if you are holier than the rest of us and she wasn’t wicked to you as she was to us!” Iyanna shouted.

“You are the only happy fool here! Why?” Ira demanded.

“Because my mom knew the value of forgiveness!” Devina shouts back easing towards them. “My mother knew how to use forgiveness to clean her body, mind, heart, and soul!”

Three pairs of eyes filled with years of hatred and pain stared at her as she eased toward them.

“Forgiveness is a gift you should try and give yourself so that you can be as happy as my mom!” Devina pelted them with. “She didn’t deny you your happiness. The hate you held on to for the things your mom did to you as a child, did!”

Unconsciously, they eased back as Devina approached with the tool of truth.

“You are adults. Use forgiveness and clean the hatred and everything else from your hearts as my Mom did. Because with so much hatred inside of you, love will pass all of you by! My mom uses forgiveness to clean up her heart and that’s why she can be here and be happy!”

Devina swang around as everyone at the burial site clapped her, and her family rushed towards her in an embrace.

“Oh mom, I am so sorry for everything that. . .”

Smiling as if she won the Nobel prize for forgiveness, happiness, and love, Ivarie hugged her baby girl tightly and said, “I am not sorry for what was done to me. I wasn’t aware that I was using forgiveness to demand happiness. If my life was better, I probably wouldn’t have the love of a damn good family.”

“So, your mother’s cruelty towards you was worth the price?” Devina asked.

Devon and Ivarie’s eyes popped wider and they hugged their children in gratitude.

You and I are Ivarie. We are satisfied with the price we paid for our love because we are aware that everything in life comes at a price.

The cruelty done to us as children, many haven’t been able to get past the pain, allowing hatred to halt their happiness and life. Using forgiveness as a cleanser to clean and remove the hate, will allow love in, and will be worth the price.

If your heart could speak, what would it say?

Use forgiveness to clean your heart allowing light and love in.

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.