Spiritual Blood Pressure

Both high blood pressure and low blood pressure can be bad for the body. I was thinking about how blood pressure can be a good metaphor for the Atonement and the repentance process. We often use the Blood of Christ to represent the whole Atonement. We could think of our spiritual blood pressure as the degree of urgency or "pressure" we feel to repent and seek Forgiveness and apply the Atoning blood of Christ. Placing both too much pressure and too little pressure on ourselves to qualify for the blessings of the Atonement can harm our Spirits. If we believe that we don't really ever need to repent, or if we have low spiritual blood pressure, we will start to become confused and disoriented and our spirits will faint as we try to face the challenges of life without the healing and strengthening effects of the Atonement. On the other hand, if we try to run before we can walk and eat meat before we can get down milk and through sheer force of will try to become 100% perfect immediately, we're going to end up with high Spiritual blood pressure and, if we're not careful, it's going to break our hearts. The Lord wants us to make sure "that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order." (Mosiah 4:27). We need to repent and seek Forgiveness with both diligence and wisdom. Too much or too little pressure will cause problems emotionally and spiritually, but the more and more we develop our relationship with the Lord, the closer we can get to the ideal balance of diligence and wisdom as we neither have too much pressure and anxiety nor too little when we repent.