Character & Integrity
Somebody said something. About this team, this program, this game. And it’s in the room now — in the group chat, in the conversation before practice, in the back of minds that should be focused on preparation.
That’s worth addressing directly, because external noise is only dangerous when you let it become internal noise.
Read this passage slowly.
When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing?”
Nehemiah 4:1–2 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
What are those feeble Jews doing? Sanballat’s mockery is designed to do exactly what external criticism always tries to do: make the people being criticized doubt themselves. To introduce the critic’s narrative into the internal story the team is telling about themselves.
Nehemiah’s response to this mockery is instructive: he prays, he posts a guard, and he keeps building. He doesn’t call a press conference. He doesn’t engage the criticism publicly. He doesn’t let it stop the work. He continues the great project and lets the wall answer for itself.
External criticism — from media, from opposing fans, from social media, from people outside the program who have decided they know what this team is — has exactly as much power as you give it. Not more. The take that gets under your skin has gotten under your skin because you let it in. The antidote is not to pretend it doesn’t exist. It’s to be more committed to the internal story than to the external one.
What is the internal story this team is telling about itself? Is it more compelling than the take that got in the room? If yes — return to it. If no — that’s the real problem, and the external noise is just revealing it.
External criticism has exactly as much power as you give it. The antidote is a more compelling internal story than the external one.
What is the internal story this team is telling about itself? Is it true? Is it compelling? Is it stronger than the take that got in this room?
The internal story question is the core. If the team doesn’t have a strong one, that’s the real problem to address.
Keep building. Let the wall answer for itself. Return to the work.
This devotional is for when external criticism has already penetrated the team environment. Use it to name and address it directly rather than pretending it isn’t there.