According to the Free Dictionary of Idioms, "hold on" means "to be patient" as in: "Everything will work out alright. Hold on."
It can also mean "to wait for someone or something". As in, "hold on while I get the napkins" Or on the phone, "hold on while I get her for you".
How may times have I been in conversation, whether it's on the phone or otherwise, only to be stopped by an attempted interruption of one of my children. They get that finger held up to say "wait a minute" and "hold on to that thought"
It can also mean "Don't let go!!"
Little Miss was out on the monkey bars recently. She decided she couldn't make it all the way across and in a panic she started screaming for help. As I ran out to get her, I was yelling to her "Hold on". I honestly meant it rather impatiently - as in "I'm coming. Relax" When I got there, instead of grabbing her, I stood there and looked at her. I took in her long arms - her fingers that were straining as they bore the full weight of her body. I noticed how straight and calm her body was as she held herself in place. And I smiled as I mentally measured the distance between her toes and the ground. Her eyes grew huge and her panic returned. "Mom!" she blurted, "help me down!" I replied "Honey, let go. I'm right here. You won't hurt yourself. I promise"
I began to think about all the things I hold on to - my home, my traditions. Fear, disappointment, wrongdoing. What do we choose to hold on to? Why do we hold on? One of my favorite Twila Paris songs says:
"we can hold on to sorrow, hold on to pain
hold on to anger when there is nothing to be gained
we can hold to a thread at the end of a rope
but when we hold on to Jesus we are holding on to hope"
I also know that sometimes we need to hold on. I've recently been listening to Rachael Lampa's song "Beauty's Just a Word" It is a beautiful ballad and the lyrics say something like "hanging by the thread end of a rope, you find hope." Jesus Christ holds every answer; all the peace and fulfillment we are looking for. There is a bigger picture and a brighter tomorrow than this "momentary struggle"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXZ3bwoH5H0
In speaking on spiritual tenacity, Oswald Chambers wrote "Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off." He goes on to say "the greatest fear a man has is not that he will be damned, but that Jesus Christ will be worsted, that the things He stood for - love and justice and forgiveness and kindness - will not win out in the end... Then comes the call to spiritual tenacity, not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately on the certainty that God is not going to be worsted." (You can read the entire encouragement in My Utmost for His Highest, the February 22 reading.)
Trust in the Lord. Wait patiently for Him.
