Let me not think that I can find the way to God if I have hatred in my heart. Let me not try to hurt God's Son, and think that I can know his Father or my Self. Let 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.
I will accept the way You choose for me to come to You, my Father. For in that will I succeed, because it is Your Will. And I would recognize that what You will is what I will as well, and only that. And so I choose to love Your Son. Amen.
✨ Summary & practice
To love God, begin by loving your brother.
After learning to carry peace to others (lesson 245), this lesson deepens the connection between love of God and love of others. In the curriculum, this is a crucial revelation. Many people believe they can love God while judging or hating their brothers. This lesson dispels that illusion: it is not possible. The path to God inevitably passes through love of His Son, that is, of everyone around you.
The central idea is uncompromising. Do not think you can find the way to God if hatred dwells in your heart. To wound the Son of God prevents you from knowing His Father or your true Self. To accept the path God has chosen for you is to recognize that His Will is also yours. The only way is therefore simple: love the Son. By loving your brothers, you love God and recognize your true identity. There is no shortcut.
This lesson echoes the previous one about carrying peace to others. It also embodies the lessons on forgiveness (247, 249). It prepares the following lessons on Christ’s vision (250) and divine identity (252). The entire curriculum converges on this point: love of God and love of neighbor are inseparable. You cannot have one without the other. Every lesson beyond this is merely an exploration of this one truth.
To apply this today, observe your relationships. Is there someone toward whom you feel resentment, anger, or contempt? It is precisely through this person that you must begin. Choose to see them as the Son of God they are. Silently send them love, even if you feel nothing at first. Each time the thought “this person is difficult” arises, correct it with “this person is the Son of God, and I choose to love them.”
Do not seek God far from you. He is in the eyes of every person you meet. Love them, and you will find Him.
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