Character & Integrity
At some point, everyone leaves.
Graduation. Transfer. The end of a career. Whatever the form, there is a departure coming for every person in this program. And how you leave — the relationships you maintain or damage, the things you say on the way out, the integrity of the exit — says something about who you are that your performance record doesn’t capture.
Read this passage slowly.
May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.
Numbers 27:17 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
Moses is asking God to appoint someone to lead after him. He’s thinking about the people he’s leaving, not about his own next chapter. That’s the posture of leaving well: the primary concern is for the people and the community you’re leaving, not the narrative of your own departure.
Leaving well looks specific. It means completing your commitments to the program fully for as long as you’re there, not gradually withdrawing your investment once the decision to leave is made. It means being honest with the coach about your intentions before they hear it from someone else. It means speaking about the program and the people in it with the same respect on the way out that you’d want extended to you. It means not recruiting others to leave with you or against the program you’re departing.
The athlete or person who leaves well — who exits with full integrity — has nothing to defend when they face the old program in the future. The reunion that might otherwise be complicated is just a competition. The coach who might otherwise be a difficult figure is just another coach.
How you leave determines what the former chapter becomes. Leave it as something you’re proud of. That’s available to you regardless of how the chapter went.
How you leave determines what the former chapter becomes. Leave it as something you’re proud of. That’s available regardless of how it went.
For anyone approaching a departure: what does leaving this program well look like specifically? What do you owe the people here before you go?
If specific departures are imminent, this devotional is very directly applicable. Handle the individual conversations with care.
Think about the people you’re leaving. Complete your commitments. Leave well.
Most useful when a transfer, graduation, or retirement is imminent. Works also as a general culture devotional about how the program handles departures.