Friday, July 3, 2015

One drip away from insanity. Nip that leak in the bud!

A dripping faucet in a tub can be surprisingly destructive. I left a dripping faucet alone long enough for the water to wear through the enamel and then the cast iron. Since the drip was in the kids’ end of the house, it didn’t bother me much. I periodically applied new enamel but I was treating a symptom rather than the cause.

Eventually, I replaced some parts and the dripping stopped. Before long it came back. There was a tiny part called a “seat” one step beyond what I had fixed. It had deteriorated and it was the cause of the leak. One tiny notch in a small bit of plumbing, like that seat, is enough to produce the type of drip that leads to nervous breakdowns. 

I had to buy a special wrench to get the seat out! After I screwed the new seat in and reassembled the faucet, there was no more drip. Unfortunately, by that time there was lots of corrosion around the drain. I called in an expert. The hidden damage was five times worse than what I could see. It was amazing!

A small problem like a dripping faucet can be very annoying. As I found out, that small problem was very destructive over time. Also, the hidden damage was far worse than what I could see. Spiritual problems can be like that. Although they might seem like small annoyances, they can cause serious damage over time. Beneath the surface they can be more like a spreading cancer.

For example, greed can lead to miserly behavior and criminal acts. Gluttony can lead to obesity and poor health. And a properly nurtured resentment can lead to an obsessive desire for revenge culminating in murder.

As Barney Fife might say, “Nip the drip. Nip it in the bud.”

Can you think of spiritual issues that seem small but which are in fact serious problems? What have you found to be effective as remedies for things like that? 

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If you liked this tip about positive thinking, you might also like Murphy's Law Breaker: Positive Thinking for Pessimists. Check it out.

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