Shake the Dust Off
Matthew 10:14 NIV | If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.
It is an acknowledged life truism that there are people and places you will encounter that will not embrace who you are. This in essence is a form of rejection and not to be taken personally because sometimes your inherent value is obscured from those not meant to or lack the ability to receive you. When you are called to be an instrument in someone’s life or a light within an environment, the celebration and appreciation for all that you are will be resounding. You may be an incredibly staunch friend, employee, partner, sibling, etc; yet you undergo being taken for granted. Shaking the dust off is an idiom that means to wash your hands of something. You can walk away with peace in your heart by being grounded in the fact that you did the best you could to fulfill your responsibilities.
What recent experiences do you need to shake off? What situations or relationships have you been trying to force to work? Who have you been tirelessly attempting to prove your worth and value you to? Who are the people that recently denied the love, goodness, and wisdom you genuinely wanted to impart to them? Examine these questions from a place rooted in the truth and reality. This will aid in seeing things for what they are and not from an idealized perspective. You will then be able to seize the power to set yourself free and shake the dust off. You are encouraged to stay where you are fully seen and received with joy. You are emboldened to readily and gracefully walk away from where you are rejected and unwelcome. Extirpate the inner-wounded need to stay where you are overexerting to prove yourself. Staying in these places that continuously deny you will slowly diminish the light within you and your self-love/respect.
Joy Gem: “In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.” - G.B.
