"I Did Liken All Scriptures Unto Us, That It Might Be For Our Profit and Learning"

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  What do you do in your spare time?  Where does your mind wonder? 

  I can't stop thinking about my children.  What are they doing right now?  Are they hungry? I hope they are safe driving! Then I think about when I can get a nap. But after all that I love studying the scriptures.  I love my collection of scripture marking pens and pencils.  I love having my books and the internet handy to study.  I love the quiet.  I love being alone with God and knowing that I can keel and pray out loud.  I love listening the beautiful minds of teachers and students to learn from them.  I love to see what works for teachers and what works for students.  I love talking about the scriptures. I love to see the impact of Holy Ghost on a class.  I love teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love likening the scriptures to myself.
  
  
  "And I did read many things unto them which were written in the books of Moses; 

  but that I might more fully persuade them 

  to believe in the Lord their Redeemer 

  I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; 

  for I did liken all scriptures unto us, 

  that it might be for our profit and learning." 

  (1 Nephi 19:23)
  
  
  It wasn't always this way for me, but when I started a serious study of the scriptures it became addictive.  Teaching the scriptures also does something strange to me.  It often makes me feel like a hypocrite. I start to look at my own behaviors and it humbles me.  And yet that is the beauty of the gospel - that we, as teachers, need him as much as our students do. We can ALL turn to Him and be forgiven.  Repentance is needed all the time.