If I forget my goal, I can be but confused, unsure of what I am, and thus conflicted in my actions. No-one can serve contradicting goals and serve them well. Nor can he function without deep distress and great depression. Let us therefore be determined to remember what we want today, that we may unify our thoughts and actions meaningfully, and achieve only what God would have us do today.
Father, forgiveness is Your chosen means for our salvation. Let us not forget that we can have no will but Yours today. And thus our purpose must be Yours as well, if we would reach the peace You will for us.
✨ Summary & practice
Remember your purpose, or you will be lost in confusion.
After establishing that God is your only goal (lesson 256), this lesson addresses a very practical problem: forgetting. In the curriculum, it is a recognition of your human fragility. You have the best goal in the world, but you constantly forget it, distracted by the thousand demands of daily life. This lesson prepares you for this reality and offers an anchor: the determination to remember, again and again, what you truly want.
The central idea is that forgetting your goal inevitably leads to confusion and conflict. Without a clear goal, you are uncertain of who you are, and you act in contradiction with yourself. No one can serve conflicting goals and serve them well. The result is distress and depression. The solution is to remember that forgiveness is the means God has chosen for your salvation. You have no will but His, so your goal must be His.
This lesson links the previous lessons on purpose (256, 258) with the ones that follow. It prepares lesson 258, where the goal is recalled as God Himself. It also continues the lessons on forgiveness: if forgiveness is the means, remembering this means is essential. Lessons 259–260, on remembering there is no sin and that God created you, will deepen this same theme of spiritual memory.
To live this lesson today, create a concrete reminder. On your phone or a sticky note, write: 'My goal is God. Forgiveness is my path.' Place it where you’ll see it often. Each time you see it, pause for a moment and recenter yourself. If you feel confusion or stress, remember you’ve likely forgotten your goal. Return to it. This is training: the more you remember, the more natural the goal becomes.
Forgetting is part of the journey. But today, choose to remember again and again, patiently, gently. Each time you remember, you come home.
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