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[MUSIC PLAYING] Larry, is that you? I hope you haven't forgotten that this is fast Sunday.

When I was younger, hearing my mother's reminder that it was fast Sunday was like hearing a judge pronounce 10 years to life. Realizing that it was fast Sunday was always a shock to the system. The only thing to do was to crawl back in bed and try to fall asleep.

I couldn't understand how a word like "fasting" could be associated with something that seemed to go so slow. [MUSIC PLAYING] I spent a lot of fast Sundays pacing the kitchen floor, trying to justify eating just a little something. [MUSIC PLAYING] And I tried every excuse in the book to get out of fasting, all the classics.

Mom, I'm so light-headed. I'm going to pass out. You'll live. [MUSIC PLAYING] Mom, I have a splitting headache. I can't take aspirin on an empty stomach. Give it up, Larry. Ugh! [MUSIC PLAYING] When I really persisted, good ol' mom would always say, "We don't force anyone to fast around here, Larry. You're free to eat whenever you choose."

Oh, sure. Eat while everyone else fasts and feel like a total jerk. I was reading that first. No, you weren't. I was. Was not. I had it first. I had it first. No, I did. Mom! After a while, I learned not to complain and not to hover around the kitchen. I just tried to find ways to keep my mind off my stomach and suffer through it. I fasted. At least, I went without food and drink for two meals. My parents kept telling me I was old enough and that it could be rewarding. Sure, like the thrill of going to the dentist, you just want to get it over with. Finally, one day, while I was trying to finish my seminary home study assignment, a passage from Isaiah really hit home. In it, the Lord told the people that the way they were fasting was not acceptable to Him. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Somehow, I'd missed the point of fasting. Maybe there was more to it than listening to my stomach growl. I decided to ask the Lord to help me understand why He wanted me to fast. [MUSIC PLAYING] The next fast Sunday I made a deliberate effort to be pleasant. Hi, Mom. It's a great day, Dad. I didn't prowl the kitchen or growl at my family. I didn't become totally spiritual or anything. But I did spend some time studying the scriptures. And I also took time to ask the Lord for greater understanding of the principle of fasting. [MUSIC PLAYING] My mouth still tasted like something small and furry had crawled through it. But brushing helped. Fast Sundays didn't get better all at once. It took some time. It's easy to let your stomach control your mood. And it's easy to go through the motions without feeling anything. Real fasting, I found, takes work. But when you really work at it, the whole day goes better. I even found myself listening in testimony meeting instead of watching the clock. And I started to feel good about being there. I felt closer to the Lord and my family too. I started to feel some of the rewards that come from fasting, rewards you don't feel if you're just trying to hang in there til dinner. Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thy own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily. And thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. [MUSIC PLAYING]