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Living Fully NOW: Shake the Dust Off
There comes a point when you have to stop asking people to understand what God gave you to carry. Maybe it’s an idea that keeps coming back to you, a vision you can see even when nobody else seems to see it yet, or work that makes something inside you come alive.
Your purpose.
We can know exactly what we’re called to do—and still begin questioning it when other people don’t receive it. They don’t understand it. They don’t support it. They look right past it. Maybe they even criticize or mock it.
And suddenly, we start wondering: Maybe I should pull back. Maybe this isn’t for me. Maybe I should stop.
But maybe the problem isn’t your purpose. Maybe you’ve simply been standing too long in a place where it isn’t being received.
Shake the Dust Off Your Feet
There’s a biblical image I keep coming back to: shaking the dust off your feet.
When Jesus sent His disciples out, He prepared them for the reality that not everyone would receive them. And when they weren’t received, He didn’t tell them to stay indefinitely trying to convince people. There came a point when they were supposed to shake the dust off their feet—and keep going.
There’s a lesson in that for us.
Sometimes resilience means standing. Sometimes resilience means knowing when to move. And here’s something else I’ve learned:
Rejection is not always redirection.
Sometimes rejection is simply rejection. Someone doesn’t understand what you’re doing. Someone doesn’t connect with your message. Someone doesn’t see the value in what you’re building. That doesn’t automatically mean you’re on the wrong road. If we change direction every time someone doesn’t understand our purpose, we’ll spend our lives wandering.
Root Before You Rise
This is where we have to root. Anybody can feel confident when people are clapping. But what happens when it’s quiet? What happens when you pour your heart into something and hardly anybody responds? What happens when someone mocks something that matters deeply to you? What happens when the people you thought would support you simply don’t?
Root.
Go back to your why. Go back to your values. Go back to your faith. Go back to the reason you started before anybody had an opinion about it. Resilience doesn’t mean rejection never hurts. It means you don’t build a home in the hurt. You can rest. You can reevaluate. You can learn. You can adjust your strategy.
But there’s a difference between refining the way you carry your purpose and retreating from your purpose altogether. Wisdom knows the difference.
Your People May Be Further Down the Road
The people who don’t receive you are not evidence that there aren’t people who need what you carry.
Your people may simply be further down the road.
But you’ll never meet them if you spend all your energy standing in the same place trying to convince people who have already decided they aren’t interested. So shake the dust off. Not angrily. Not bitterly. Not with a long announcement explaining why you’re leaving. Just recognize: This isn’t where I’m supposed to stay. And keep walking. Living fully NOW means we stop putting our lives—and our purpose—on hold until everybody agrees with us. You are allowed to learn.
You are allowed to change your approach.
You are allowed to rest.
But don’t confuse a difficult season with a dead purpose.
Sometimes the next step isn’t fighting harder for someone else’s approval.
Sometimes it’s simply this:
Shake the dust off your feet.
Lift your head. Remember who you are. Remember why you started.
And keep walking.
Your purpose may be waiting for you further down the road.
Until next time...Root Rise. Reign.
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