A Prayer for When You're Holding Too Much

On Anxiety, Fear & Inner Turmoil

There comes a point when you realize you are holding too much — too many responsibilities, too many worries, too many other people's needs, too many things that cannot all be carried at once. This prayer is for that moment of recognition, when the weight has exceeded your capacity and something must be set down.

The things you hold may all be important. They may all be good. They may all need someone to carry them. But they do not all need to be carried by you, and certainly not all at once. You are not infinite. Your arms have limits. Your back has limits. Your heart has limits.

This prayer invites you to set something down — not everything, perhaps, but enough to breathe again.

What Does Holding Too Much Feel Like?

Holding too much has a particular quality — the sense that if one more thing is added, something will break.

• Constantly busy but never getting ahead
• Difficulty being present because of all you're juggling
• Physical tension that never fully releases
• A sense that you cannot stop, even when exhausted
• Guilt about what you're not doing well enough
• The feeling that asking for help means failure

If this describes you, you are holding too much. Not because you are weak, but because you are human, and humans have finite capacity.

Why We Hold More Than We Should

Many of us learned to carry more than our share. Perhaps no one else would do it. Perhaps we were praised for being capable. Perhaps we fear what would happen if we set things down. Perhaps we believe we should be able to handle it all.

But Jesus himself withdrew, rested, said no. He did not heal every sick person in Israel or save every soul in his lifetime. Even God incarnate had limits on what one body could carry.

You are allowed to have limits. You are allowed to set things down. This is not failure — it is wisdom.

A Prayer of Release

This prayer does not require you to solve anything. It simply invites you to begin releasing what you cannot continue to carry.

Lord, I am holding too much. My arms are full and my heart is heavy. The weight exceeds what I can carry. I confess I have tried to hold more than I was meant to hold — others' needs, future worries, responsibilities beyond my portion. I begin to set things down. I release what is not mine to carry tonight. I release what cannot be solved by holding it tighter. I release what belongs to tomorrow rather than this moment. Hold what I am releasing. Let it not fall and shatter. Let it be held by hands larger than mine. My arms are emptier now. My heart is lighter. I can breathe again.

You do not have to release everything. Just enough to breathe. Just enough to continue.

A Practice for Setting Down

Consider what you might set down, even temporarily:

• Worries about things beyond your control
• Responsibilities that actually belong to others
• Future concerns that don't require tonight's attention
• The expectation that you must do everything perfectly
• The guilt about what you cannot manage
• The needs you cannot meet right now

Setting something down does not mean it disappears. It means someone else holds it for a while — perhaps God, perhaps another person, perhaps simply the universe. You were never meant to carry it all.