Just Hold On… by Carol Boley

I have a confession to make. I am not a pretty dancer. You will never find me competing on “Dancing with the Stars.” Heaven knows, people have tried to teach me, but I can’t seem to learn, much less master, specific steps and moves. This goes way back. In high school I couldn’t complete cheerleader tryouts. I had plenty of spirit but couldn’t memorize all those routines. Apparently I have coordination issues.

So I panicked when, as maid of honor at my best friend’s wedding, the moment came for me to dance with the groom. The reception featured a lively polka band. Polka—a dance described as embracing the “intimacy of the waltz combined with the vivacity of the Irish jig.” Yikes. I knew I was in trouble. And as good of friends as we were, I wasn’t sure Denny knew this about me. There was nothing to do but ‘fess up.

“Denny,” I gasped in a mix of anxiety and shame, “I don’t know how to dance the polka!” Denny put one arm around my waist, grabbed my hand and commanded, “Just hold on!”

And away we went, Denny leading every step of the way. I relaxed, and even though I’ve seen trained bears on roller skates appear more graceful, I enjoyed myself.

“Just hold on!”

That’s good advice for all of us, not just polka dancers, as long as we follow the right leader and trust the one leading us. Jesus tells us the same thing. Stay close. Abide in me. Follow my lead. And even if we lose our grip, we are secure in the arms of our hero. He’s got us. He’s in control. He knows the steps. Our part? Just hold on. And we will go dancing.

Do you have a hard time believing God is trustworthy when you look at the circumstances of your life and see anger, bitterness, disappointment? When you’ve been wounded and betrayed? When you don’t see the answers to your prayers? When you don’t know the steps of the dance?

I ask you to trust God means what He says. That He loves you and forgives you and enables you to love and forgive others. That you are under no condemnation. That He will take everything that has ever happened to you and work it for your good. That He will transform your character to look like Jesus.

How can we believe that when the circumstances of our lives shout just the opposite? He isn’t asking us to trust untrustworthy people and circumstances. He’s asking us to trust Him. And He gives us one sure, unmistakable marker that we can return to time after time for reassurance.

The cross. Every time. Everything pales in comparison to the cross. It is God’s stake in the ground that He means what He says and you can trust Him. It is God giving you His very best, dealing a death blow to Satan’s accusation, beginning in the garden, that God is holding out on you. How precious you are to God that He would love you like this!

As we enter December and focus on Christmas, let’s remember to see beyond the child in the manger all the way to our Savior on the cross. And He will take us dancing. Just hold on.