This past Sunday I was trying to make the point of how external pressures or the internal burden of carrying the unresolved can absolutely crush a person. I had a little water bottle there on the lectern (or maybe it was on the floor). Scooping it up I asked listeners, “if they could hold this bottle out away from their bodies for a minute?” Of course they could, from almost youngest to oldest. Could they hold up this mere eight ounces for five minutes? For half an hour? For an afternoon? You get the idea.

The most bearable of weights becomes unbearable if carried for too long. A problem at work; a crisis at home; trouble with one of the kids: It’s not much on its own, but when it goes on for a week, or a month, or longer? You get the idea. And what about those weights on the soul? The heaviness of heart or a conflicted conscience from a past failure? These are often carried for a long, long time. If they go unresolved long enough, they can break a person’s spirit.

In regard to the external: Take a break. From your schedule; from your work; from the news; from people trampling over your boundaries (if you have learned to create boundaries). In regard to the internal: Come clean. Confession (to a trusted friend, mentor, therapist, priest, rabbi, or pastor) is good for the soul, because it offloads the weight carried for far too long. So, yes, it’s take a break or be broken. Rest on your terms is better, I think, than being forced into recovery.