The day after basement flood #2 (See Pipe Lesson 1) I decided to milk as much out of our plumbing problems as possible. There had to be a silver lining in this gray cloud of water leaks. Hence, multiple posts about pipes!
Typically copper pipes don’t spring leaks spontaneously. So it took some detective work to uncover the root of our problem. Our plumber discovered the culprit behind our basement floods.
Apparently the builders (in the 1980s) used long nails to secure the joists, nails long 
enough to poke through to the other side. Then a plumbing crew installed the water lines up against those joists. Over time the tips of two particular nails gradually drilled their way into the copper piping as vibrations jiggled things around, resulting in small but steady streams of water inside the walls.
This continued before we saw any evidence of the leaks, by which time the damage had already been done. Although it affected walls, ceilings, and floors, the floods began with a nail point. Looking at that metal fastener one would never conclude, “That might start a basement flood!”
And yet that seemingly insignificant nail tip had the power to sabotage multiple days of our lives and cost us hundreds of dollars.
The same is true of fleeting thoughts and their accompanying emotions. Negative thoughts look innocent enough at first glance. And if we don’t dwell on them, they cannot hurt us. 
But Satan delights in reminding us of failures, compromises, and offenses. The problem comes when we make them our focal point. Mulling over our faults, having arguments with people in our heads, reliving hurtful scenes from the past, all impact us emotionally and even physically. The stress of those troublesome musings can increase our heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, levels of adrenaline, and lead to worse symptoms.
This mind and body connection is no new discovery. For instance, David experienced stress after trying to hide his sin with Bathsheba, even as God urged him to come clean. In Psalm 32:3-4 he described, When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.
So to keep us from such pain, Hebrews 4:7 urges us to listen to the Holy Spirit, quoting David: “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” God wants to keep us from self-induced suffering.
And besides such stress-taming passages as Psalm 55:22, Proverbs 3:5-6, Philippians 4:6-7, and I Peter 5:7, Jesus offers the ultimate solution: Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).
