Do you still have hope in Him this COVID Christmas?

Its December! A time where efforts to serve one another are strengthened, gift giving abounds and the journey of becoming Christlike becomes a priority and focus.

In 2013, Scott Ferrin (a professor and graduate coordinator in the Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations, current due process hearing officer on special education issues for the state of Utah, founding chair of the Utah Education Law and Policy Institute), spoke on his journey of becoming more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.

What do you do around Christmas? Do you have fun traditions with your family? Do you read the book of Luke on Christmas Eve? Whatever you do, cherish it! Brother Ferrin says, "Christmas gives us time to make memories in our quest for conversion to the childlike. I always tell my children, and I remind you, that we only get a finite number of Christmases on this earth, so we should enjoy each one and never get too mature to enjoy all the classic Christmas traditions, Christmas movies, and Christmas-themed jokes."

These Christmas traditions we take part in helping us become as our students–children, full of light and hope. "What about childlike wonder and hope do we all try to preserve in ourselves and in our children Christmas and its gentle deceptions? Is it a sense of wonder, a sense of the possible, as an antidote to fear? I suggest we all need to develop a sense of wonder as we ponder the Atonement and the childlike nature Christ wants each of us to develop."

As we all return home to spend the holidays with our families, we can reflect on our level of hope and wonder that so many children naturally have. Has COVID-19 running wild decreased our faith in the future or our hope for a better world? "Perhaps, we could... seek wonder more, follow the promptings of the Spirit more, and develop a bit more childlike tenacity in action and belief."

"So, what manner of a child ought we to become this Christmas season?... I submit that we should be ready to be cowboys if that is what our hearts and the Spirit dictate—or kindergarten teachers or doctors or molecular biologists—and we should live our lives with courage and submission to the Lord."

Enjoy the rest of your semester and may hope abound in your heart this COVID Christmas season.

You can read Scott Ferrin's full account of "Christmas and Christ's Invitation to Become as a Little Child: What Manner of Child Ought We to Be?" here.