Lesson 256

God is the only goal I have today.

1. The way to God is through forgiveness here. ²There is no other way. ³If sin had not been cherished by the mind, what need would there have been to find the way to where you are? ⁴Who would still be uncertain? ⁵Who could be unsure of who he is? ⁶And who would yet remain asleep, in heavy clouds of doubt about the holiness of him whom God created sinless? ⁷Here we can but dream. ⁸But we can dream we have forgiven him in whom all sin remains impossible, and it is this we choose to dream today. ⁹God is our goal; forgiveness is the means by which our minds return to Him at last.

2. And so, our Father, would we come to You in Your appointed way. ²We have no goal except to hear Your Voice, and find the way Your sacred Word has pointed out to us.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-256/god-is-the-only-goal-i-have-today/en/s/671

Lesson 255

This day I choose to spend in perfect peace.

1. It does not seem to me that I can choose to have but peace today. ²And yet, my God assures me that His Son is like Himself. ³Let me this day have faith in Him Who says I am God’s Son. ⁴And let the peace I choose be mine today bear witness to the truth of what He says. ⁵God’s Son can have no cares, and must remain forever in the peace of Heaven. ⁶In His Name, I give today to finding what my Father wills for me, accepting it as mine, and giving it to all my Father’s Sons, along with me.

2. And so, my Father, would I pass this day with You. ²Your Son has not forgotten You. ³The peace You gave him still is in his mind, and it is there I choose to spend today.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-255/this-day-i-choose-to-spend-in-perfect-peace/en/s/670

Lesson 254

Let every voice but God’s be still in me.

1. Father, today I would but hear Your Voice. ²In deepest silence I would come to You, to hear Your Voice and to receive Your Word. ³I have no prayer but this: I come to You to ask You for the truth. ⁴And truth is but Your Will, which I would share with You today.

2. Today we let no ego thoughts direct our words or actions. ²When such thoughts occur, we quietly step back and look at them, and then we let them go. ³We do not want what they would bring with them. ⁴And so we do not choose to keep them. ⁵They are silent now. ⁶And in the stillness, hallowed by His Love, God speaks to us and tells us of our will, as we have chosen to remember Him.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-254/let-every-voice-but-gods-be-still-in-me/en/s/669

Lesson 253

My Self is ruler of the universe.

1. It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself. ²Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. ³What happens is what I desire. ⁴What does not occur is what I do not want to happen. ⁵This must I accept. ⁶For thus am I led past this world to my creations, children of my will, in Heaven where my holy Self abides with them and Him Who has created me.

2. You are the Self Whom You created Son, creating like Yourself and One with You. ²My Self, which rules the universe, is but Your Will in perfect union with my own, which can but offer glad assent to Yours, that it may be extended to Itself.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-253/my-self-is-ruler-of-the-universe/en/s/668

Lesson 252

The Son of God is my Identity.

1. My Self is holy beyond all the thoughts of holiness of which I now conceive. ²Its shimmering and perfect purity is far more brilliant than is any light that I have ever looked upon. ³Its love is limitless, with an intensity that holds all things within it, in the calm of quiet certainty. ⁴Its strength comes not from burning impulses which move the world, but from the boundless Love of God Himself. ⁵How far beyond this world my Self must be, and yet how near to me and close to God!

2. Father, You know my true Identity. ²Reveal It now to me who am Your Son, that I may waken to the truth in You, and know that Heaven is restored to me.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-252/the-son-of-god-is-my-identity/en/s/667

Lesson 251

I am in need of nothing but the truth.

1. I sought for many things, and found despair. ²Now do I seek but one, for in that one is all I need, and only what I need. ³All that I sought before I needed not, and did not even want. ⁴My only need I did not recognize. ⁵But now I see that I need only truth. ⁶In that all needs are satisfied, all cravings end, all hopes are finally fulfilled and dreams are gone. ⁷Now have I everything that I could need. ⁸Now have I everything that I could want. ⁹And now at last I find myself at peace.

2. And for that peace, our Father, we give thanks. ²What we denied ourselves You have restored, and only that is what we really want.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-251/i-am-in-need-of-nothing-but-the-truth/en/s/666

Lesson 250

Let me not see myself as limited.

1. Let me behold the Son of God today, and witness to his glory. ²Let me not try to obscure the holy light in him, and see his strength diminished and reduced to frailty; nor perceive the lacks in him with which I would attack his sovereignty.

2. He is Your Son, my Father. ²And today I would behold his gentleness instead of my illusions. ³He is what I am, and as I see him so I see myself. ⁴Today I would see truly, that this day I may at last identify with him.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-250/let-me-not-see-myself-as-limited/en/s/664

Lesson 249

Forgiveness ends all suffering and loss.

1. Forgiveness paints a picture of a world where suffering is over, loss becomes impossible and anger makes no sense. ²Attack is gone, and madness has an end. ³What suffering is now conceivable? ⁴What loss can be sustained? ⁵The world becomes a place of joy, abundance, charity and endless giving. ⁶It is now so like to Heaven that it quickly is transformed into the light that it reflects. ⁷And so the journey which the Son of God began has ended in the light from which he came.

2. Father, we would return our minds to You. ²We have betrayed them, held them in a vise of bitterness, and frightened them with thoughts of violence and death. ³Now would we rest again in You, as You created us.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-249/forgiveness-ends-all-suffering-and-loss/en/s/663

Lesson 248

Whatever suffers is not part of me.

1. I have disowned the truth. ²Now let me be as faithful in disowning falsity. ³Whatever suffers is not part of me. ⁴What grieves is not myself. ⁵What is in pain is but illusion in my mind. ⁶What dies was never living in reality, and did but mock the truth about myself. ⁷Now I disown self-concepts and deceits and lies about the holy Son of God. ⁸Now am I ready to accept him back as God created him, and as he is.

2. Father, my ancient love for You returns, and lets me love Your Son again as well. ²Father, I am as You created me. ³Now is Your Love remembered, and my own. ⁴Now do I understand that they are one.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-248/whatever-suffers-is-not-part-of-me/en/s/662

Lesson 247

Without forgiveness I will still be blind.

1. Sin is the symbol of attack. ²Behold it anywhere, and I will suffer. ³For forgiveness is the only means whereby Christ’s vision comes to me. ⁴Let me accept what His sight shows me as the simple truth, and I am healed completely. ⁵Brother, come and let me look on you. ⁶Your loveliness reflects my own. ⁷Your sinlessness is mine. ⁸You stand forgiven, and I stand with you.

2. So would I look on everyone today. ²My brothers are Your Sons. ³Your Fatherhood created them, and gave them all to me as part of You, and my own Self as well. ⁴Today I honor You through them, and thus I hope this day to recognize my Self.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-247/without-forgiveness-i-will-still-be-blind/en/s/661

Lesson 246

To love my Father is to love His Son.

1. Let me not think that I can find the way to God, if I have hatred in my heart. ²Let me not try to hurt God’s Son, and think that I can know his Father or my Self. ³Let me not fail to recognize myself, and still believe that my awareness can contain my Father, or my mind conceive of all the love my Father has for me, and all the love which I return to Him.

2. I will accept the way You choose for me to come to You, my Father. ²For in that will I succeed, because it is Your Will. ³And I would recognize that what You will is what I will as well, and only that. ⁴And so I choose to love Your Son. ⁵Amen.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-246/to-love-my-father-is-to-love-his-son/en/s/660

Lesson 245

Your peace is with me, Father. I am safe.

1. Your peace surrounds me, Father. ²Where I go, Your peace goes there with me. ³It sheds its light on everyone I meet. ⁴I bring it to the desolate and lonely and afraid. ⁵I give Your peace to those who suffer pain, or grieve for loss, or think they are bereft of hope and happiness. ⁶Send them to me, my Father. ⁷Let me bring Your peace with me. ⁸For I would save Your Son, as is Your Will, that I may come to recognize my Self.

2. And so we go in peace. ²To all the world we give the message that we have received. ³And thus we come to hear the Voice for God, Who speaks to us as we relate His Word; Whose Love we recognize because we share the Word that He has given unto us.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-245/your-peace-is-with-me-father-i-am-safe/en/s/659

Lesson 244

I am in danger nowhere in the world.

1. Your Son is safe wherever he may be, for You are there with him. ²He need but call upon Your Name, and he will recollect his safety and Your Love, for they are one. ³How can he fear or doubt or fail to know he cannot suffer, be endangered, or experience unhappiness, when he belongs to You, beloved and loving, in the safety of Your Fatherly embrace?

2. And there we are in truth. ²No storms can come into the hallowed haven of our home. ³In God we are secure. ⁴For what can come to threaten God Himself, or make afraid what will forever be a part of Him?

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-244/i-am-in-danger-nowhere-in-the-world/en/s/658

Lesson 243

Today I will judge nothing that occurs.

1. I will be honest with myself today. ²I will not think that I already know what must remain beyond my present grasp. ³I will not think I understand the whole from bits of my perception, which are all that I can see. ⁴Today I recognize that this is so. ⁵And so I am relieved of judgments that I cannot make. ⁶Thus do I free myself and what I look upon, to be in peace as God created us.

2. Father, today I leave creation free to be itself. ²I honor all its parts, in which I am included. ³We are one because each part contains Your memory, and truth must shine in all of us as one.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-243/today-i-will-judge-nothing-that-occurs/en/s/657

Lesson 242

This day is God’s. It is my gift to Him.

1. I will not lead my life alone today. ²I do not understand the world, and so to try to lead my life alone must be but foolishness. ³But there is One Who knows all that is best for me. ⁴And He is glad to make no choices for me but the ones that lead to God. ⁵I give this day to Him, for I would not delay my coming home, and it is He Who knows the way to God.

2. And so we give today to You. ²We come with wholly open minds. ³We do not ask for anything that we may think we want. ⁴Give us what You would have received by us. ⁵You know all our desires and our wants. ⁶And You will give us everything we need in helping us to find the way to You.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-242/this-day-is-gods-it-is-my-gift-to-him/en/s/656

Lesson 241

This holy instant is salvation come.

1. What joy there is today! ²It is a time of special celebration. ³For today holds out the instant to the darkened world where its release is set. ⁴The day has come when sorrows pass away and pain is gone. ⁵The glory of salvation dawns today upon a world set free. ⁶This is the time of hope for countless millions. ⁷They will be united now, as you forgive them all. ⁸For I will be forgiven by you today.

2. We have forgiven one another now, and so we come at last to You again. ²Father, Your Son, who never left, returns to Heaven and his home. ³How glad are we to have our sanity restored to us, and to remember that we all are one.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-241/this-holy-instant-is-salvation-come/en/s/655

Lesson 240

Fear is not justified in any form.

1. Fear is deception. ²It attests that you have seen yourself as you could never be, and therefore look upon a world which is impossible. ³Not one thing in this world is true. ⁴It does not matter what the form in which it may appear. ⁵It witnesses but to your own illusions of yourself. ⁶Let us not be deceived today. ⁷We are the Sons of God. ⁸There is no fear in us, for we are each a part of Love Itself.

2. How foolish are our fears! ²Would You allow Your Son to suffer? ³Give us faith today to recognize Your Son, and set him free. ⁴Let us forgive him in Your Name, that we may understand his holiness, and feel the love for him which is Your Own as well.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-240/fear-is-not-justified-in-any-form/en/s/653

Lesson 239

The glory of my Father is my own.

1. Let not the truth about ourselves today be hidden by a false humility. ²Let us instead be thankful for the gifts our Father gave us. ³Can we see in those with whom He shares His glory any trace of sin and guilt? ⁴And can it be that we are not among them, when He loves His Son forever and with perfect constancy, knowing he is as He created him?

2. We thank You, Father, for the light that shines forever in us. ²And we honor it, because You share it with us. ³We are one, united in this light and one with You, at peace with all creation and ourselves.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-239/the-glory-of-my-father-is-my-own/en/s/652

Lesson 238

On my decision all salvation rests.

1. Father, Your trust in me has been so great, I must be worthy. ²You created me, and know me as I am. ³And yet You placed Your Son’s salvation in my hands, and let it rest on my decision. ⁴I must be beloved of You indeed. ⁵And I must be steadfast in holiness as well, that You would give Your Son to me in certainty that he is safe Who still is part of You, and yet is mine, because He is my Self.

2. And so, again today, we pause to think how much our Father loves us. ²And how dear His Son, created by His Love, remains to Him Whose Love is made complete in him.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-238/on-my-decision-all-salvation-rests/en/s/651

Lesson 237

Now would I be as God created me.

1. Today I will accept the truth about myself. ²I will arise in glory, and allow the light in me to shine upon the world throughout the day. ³I bring the world the tidings of salvation which I hear as God my Father speaks to me. ⁴And I behold the world that Christ would have me see, aware it ends the bitter dream of death; aware it is my Father’s Call to me.

2. Christ is my eyes today, and He the ears that listen to the Voice for God today. ²Father, I come to You through Him Who is Your Son, and my true Self as well. ³Amen.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-237/now-would-i-be-as-god-created-me/en/s/650