What are we supposed to do with these??

     God created us and He wants us to consider Him our Father. As any loving, concerned father would, He wants us to learn and progress. He has given us several helps: the Holy Ghost to guide us wherever and whenever we are willing to listen, an inborn "light" (called the Light of Christ) that gives us a natural awareness of right and wrong if we are willing to follow it, and prophets who have kept records over the centuries which have been compiled into what we call scriptures. Within the scriptures are lots and lots of admonitions to read the scriptures, in our churches, homes, families, and by ourselves. When my children were young, we diligently tried to read the scriptures every day. My own efforts to read them has been on-again-off-again over the years. When I was teaching out of them every day (early morning seminary) I learned how much they could influence my daily efforts to follow the example of Christ and how different it was to read them every day as opposed to once in awhile. It's very much like physical exercise in that it just doesn't have much affect if we only do it on occasion. Other than simply reading the words, what are the scriptures for? Are the words some kind of magic so all you have to do is utter them aloud or in your mind and you can be changed into a more Christlike person? That reminds me of the jokes told in high school about kids who tried to gain knowledge by "osmosis" putting their books under their pillows as they slept. Silly, right? So why do we try a similar method in learning to be Christlike?
     I looked in the topical guide for the scriptures and found about half as many scriptures counseling us to "read" the scriptures as I did for search, feast upon, study, treasure, or seek all of which implies a much less casual approach than simply reading like you might a novel or the newspaper. Isaiah said to seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read. Moroni warns us, "I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies.......Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them." Jesus Christ Himself said, "And now, whoso readeth, let him understand; he that hath the scriptures, let him search them". That doesn't sound to me like He means for us to simply skim over the words repeatedly. We are to understand them and we do that by studying, pondering, having faith that there is meaning in them beyond the stories we can recall. He taught in parables, stories with a meaning that only those who sought for understanding would get. If we never study or discuss scriptures, we won't get much out of the guidance intended therein. If we don't make the effort to liken the scriptures unto ourselves and alter our thought and deeds, we are totally missing God's purpose in providing them. His promise to us is this, "Now, behold this is wisdom; whoso readeth, let him understand and receive also; For unto him that receiveth shall be given more abundantly, even power." It's good to read the scriptures but it's better to receive them with an effort to understand what is in them.