Fasting is Connected to Sacrifice

 

Relief Through Jesus Christ: The Power of the Fast

By Sister Kristin M. Yee

Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency

When we fast, we prayerfully humble ourselves before the Lord and choose to refrain from eating and drinking for two meals or a period of 24 hours. If one’s health does not permit customary fasting, President Russell M. Nelson (1924–2025) counseled us to “decide what would constitute a sacrifice for you, as you remember the supreme sacrifice the Savior made for you.”

Fasting is connected to sacrifice, and sacrifice is symbolic of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and His Atonement. We have the opportunity to reverently consider His sacrifice as we seek inspiration to know what to fast for and what to fast from. We can also think on the Savior throughout our fast. I’m learning that the Lord intends for us to learn of Him and to draw closer to Him through this prayerful experience...

Jesus Christ is “The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths.” He made a way to heal every sorrow and heartache and overcome every weakness and sin. He can restore, mend, and strengthen as we turn to Him in mighty prayer and fasting.

How Parents Use their Phones Affects Children

 In Gaskin’s iPads-as-marshmallows study, what predicted preschoolers’ ability to resist the blaring call of the screens boiled down to one factor: how their parents use their phones. The “parents who primarily use their own devices for work, socializing, and learning”—vs. escape and entertainment—“their kids were able to delay gratification,” Gaskin says. “The kid learns from their parents’ behavior.”

Parents’ device use impacts how teens use their own phones, according to research by family life professor Sarah M. Coyne and research assistant Hailey E. Holmgren (BS ’14, MS ’17). A 2024 study by Holmgren published in Computers in Human Behavior suggests that when mothers, who are most often the primary caregivers, use smaller amounts of all types of media, their kids use media less and have fewer problems with it. Mothers who use high levels of social media and video games per day see more problematic media use in their kids.

“Parents set the tone for the media culture in the home,” says Coyne. “There’s a very large correlation between the time a parent spends on media and the time their child does. Model what you want to see in your own kids.”

https://magazine.byu.edu/article/mind-the-app-parenting-kids-smartphones/