Music and The Spoken Word: Just Hold On

Music and the Spoken Word:

Just Hold On Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell

Sitting at her window on a rather cold and dark winter day, a young woman began to feel very alone and discouraged. It seemed no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t keep up with the demands of life. The children always needed more of her attention, finances were tight, she felt like she had lost touch with who she used to be, and there seemed to be no end in sight. As the tears began to well up in her eyes, the telephone rang, and she composed herself to answer it.

A friend was calling just to see how she was doing and to offer some words of encouragement. By the time they finished talking, things were better. The lingering winter yielded to a hope for eventual spring. She began to see the opportunities in her life rather than just the burdens. Her problems didn’t disappear, but somehow just knowing that she was not alone, that someone cared for her, made them suddenly seem bearable.

All of us feel, at times, that we’re alone, that we’ve been abandoned and left to fend for ourselves. The everyday challenges of life seem to hold us back and weigh us down until we don’t know how we can keep going. Then something happens. We hear a child laugh, we’re inspired by sacred words or music, someone expresses appreciation for our hard work, or maybe a good friend calls to cheer us up. Our hope is renewed that somehow we’ll get through—if we just hold on, in some way we’ll manage. And we always do.

God is in His heaven watching over us. Spring flowers are just waiting for a chance to bloom. Dawn comes surely after even the darkest night. Every time someone reaches out to us—and every time we reach out to someone else—hope is reborn, and we realize that we’re never really alone.