You preached your heart out last Sunday. Spent Tuesday at the hospital. Counseled a struggling marriage on Wednesday. Led the staff meeting on Thursday. Prepared for Sunday on Friday and Saturday. And now you're staring at your inbox on Monday morning—and it's silent.
No "thank you." No "that sermon changed my life." No "I noticed what you're doing." Just silence.
Welcome to pastoral leadership.
Here's the truth most leadership books won't tell you: the majority of what you do will go unnoticed, unthanked, and unacknowledged. And if you're waiting for people to fuel your sense of calling, you'll run out of gas before Christmas.
But what if the silence could become sacred? What if the lack of human recognition could create space for something deeper?
As we enter this Thanksgiving season, let me give you three truths to pause on—three realities that can anchor your soul when the "thank you’s" don't come.
1. God Sees What Others Miss
The problem with pastoral ministry is that 80% of what you do happens in the unseen places. You pray in your office alone. You study in the early morning hours. You carry burdens for people who will never know you're praying for them at 2 AM. You make decisions that protect the church from crises that never happen—and because they never happen, nobody knows you prevented them.
This is the hidden nature of spiritual leadership.
But here's the anchor: God sees it all. Every conversation. Every prayer. Every sacrifice. Every moment you choose faithfulness over recognition. Matthew 6 promises that your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Not might reward you. Will reward you.
The silence of people does not equal the silence of God.
When King David wanted to build God a temple, God stopped him. But then God said something stunning: "You did well that it was in your heart" (1 Kings 8:18). David never built the temple. He never got to see the finished product. But God rewarded the intention, the heart, the unseen faithfulness.
Your Thanksgiving pause: What has God seen this year that nobody else noticed? Write it down. Not to boast. But to remember. To anchor your soul in the reality that your audience of One has been watching, approving, and sustaining you through it all.
2. The Harvest Is Still Coming
Jesus told a story about a farmer who plants seed and then waits. Mark 4 describes how the seed grows—night and day, whether the farmer sleeps or gets up. The farmer doesn't understand how it happens. He just knows that the harvest will come.
This is pastoral ministry in a single parable.
You plant the Word. You water with prayer. You cultivate with discipleship. And then you wait. Most weeks, you see nothing. No immediate response. No visible fruit. No one rushing to tell you how much your sermon mattered.
But the seed is growing.
The problem is that we measure ministry in weekly increments when God measures it in seasons. You preach 52 Sundays a year (not recommended by the way), and maybe three of those messages get acknowledged. But five years from now, someone will tell you that a sermon from 2022 changed the direction of their marriage—and they won't even remember which Sunday it was.
The silence doesn't mean nothing is happening. It means you're in the season between planting and harvest.
Your Thanksgiving pause: Who has God changed through your ministry this year, even if they haven't told you? Who is different because you showed up? Make a list—not of what people said, but of what God did. Trust that the seeds you planted in January are still growing in November.
3. Your Call Comes from God, Not from Gratitude
This is the hardest truth and the most liberating one: if people's gratitude gave you your calling, their ingratitude could take it away.
But that's not how calling works.
God called you to this. He set you apart. He equipped you. He sustains you. And He will complete the work He started in you (Philippians 1:6). Your assignment doesn't depend on people noticing. It depends on God directing.
Paul told Timothy to "discharge all the duties of your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:5). Not the appreciated duties. Not the recognized duties. All the duties. The seen and the unseen. The thanked and the unthanked.
This is both sobering and freeing. Sobering because it means you can't coast on compliments. Freeing because it means you don't need compliments to keep going.
Your calling is secure—not because people appreciate it, but because God authored it.
Your Thanksgiving pause: What did God say when He called you? Not what people have said since. What did He say? Go back to that moment. That promise. That conviction. Write it down. Read it out loud. Let it remind you that your assignment comes from a voice that doesn't need affirmation from the crowd.
Lead with Gratitude, Not for Gratitude
Here's the Mindshift: What if this Thanksgiving you chose to lead with gratitude instead of leading for gratitude?
What if you thanked God for the privilege of serving His people, even when they don't thank you? What if you expressed gratitude for the calling, even when it's hard? What if you celebrated the unseen faithfulness, even when nobody else celebrates it?
This is the path to sustainable ministry. Not ministry fueled by applause, but ministry anchored in the approval of God.
So, this Thanksgiving, pause, pastor. Rest in what God sees. Trust the harvest that's coming. Remember the call that sustains you.
And lead well, not because people notice, but because God does.
PICTURE
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