To hold on literally means to wait, be patient, endure. In a world where things oftentimes don’t turn out as quickly as we presume, or as we had earlier hoped, holding on is an incredibly needful habit.

As the cliché goes, man proposes but God disposes. Our propositions, at times, come with much agitation, rush, excitement and hasty activities that tend to becloud our vision of what lies ahead.

For God’s disposition to have an effect on our lives, our proposition as humans has to align with His. Hence, it may require a total deviation from our earlier plan or a rearrangement, or a delay. And if we take time to reflect on it, we will understand better and make out the best.

Looking at it from God’s perspective, we need to steadfastly seek His answers – in prayers, reading the scriptures, and even by means of abstinence. It might seem difficult, but holding on is a habit we must all cultivate and build on, regardless of who we are. A bit of patience, waiting, endurance (or whatever you may call it) could be a test we must all pass through to achieve our most sought-after desires or life goals.   

Yes, we as humans have a lot of desires, but not all may be beneficial to our wellbeing. This is why it is said that “not all that glitters is gold”. So, not everything that interests us must be chased: it could turn out to be a disadvantage to our calling, career, destiny, et cetera.

Therefore, we must first seek divine, and then human, directions to make headway. When I say human directions, I mean beckoning on those (a pastor, friend, academic, physician, mentor, etc.) who have an edge over us in whatever area we’re in.

This is where holding on comes in, because the answers we require may not come in so soon, or the person or the thing we seek may not be received the way it will soothe us.

Besides, holding on could be a way of keeping us away from impending danger. Since we are humans we may not see such danger at first but a bit of holding on could pay off.

To say the most, holding on helps us to do a lot of checks on ourselves and others for better performance or to prevent costly errors. You need to see holding on as a grace period we must embrace with all conscience for positive actions.

When we make a call and the receiver says hold on, it means that, at that point in time, he or she is ill-disposed to talk – despite the fact that the call has been acknowledged from his or her end. The onus lies on the caller to wait till the recipient resumes the conversation.

This is certainly preferable to bugging the person with “hello”, “are you still there”, “I am still waiting”, etc. If the caller does so, the recipient may get annoyed and drop the call and that would be the end. And if it is an important business deal or approval one needs, it may be forfeited due to impatience.

Let’s cultivate the habit of holding on. It will definitely pay us well.