Most people prefer a comfortable lie over an inconvenient truth.
They sugarcoat reality. They downplay their problems. They avoid the hard questions because hard questions demand hard answers.
But Nehemiah? He wasn’t afraid to look at the ruins.
He wasn’t a pessimist—he didn’t drown in despair. He wasn’t a naïve optimist—he didn’t pretend things were fine. He was a realist.
And reality is the foundation of every successful rebuilding effort.