I met with a fellow ministry leader today who reminded me of a beautiful word: patience.

Pastors are typically not very patient people. We want to see God moving in our congregations. We want to see lives change, prayers answered, the lost found, the saved sanctified. NOW!

I should know. I’m a pastor and I’m not a very patient person.

The thing is, God is an incurably patient God.

Sure, sometimes he acts quickly: shock and awe! But my experience has been that, more often than not, God is in neither the wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire, but the low whisper that Elijah heard (1 Kings 19:9-12). That’s why God tells us not to despise the day of small things (Zechariah 4:10). Don’t be an impatient pastor. Just be faithful, rejoice when God grants small, incremental gains. Be a pastor who prays, and serves, and cares for your soul, and…waits.

Be patient.