Lesson 109. I rest in God.
(1) We ask for rest today, and quietness unshaken by the world's
appearances. We ask for peace and stillness, in the midst of all the
turmoil born of clashing dreams. We ask for safety and for happiness,
although we seem to look on danger and on sorrow. And we have the
thought that will answer our asking with what we request.
(2) "I rest in God." This thought will bring to you the rest and quiet,
peace and stillness, and the safety and the happiness you seek. "I rest
in God." This thought has power to wake the sleeping truth in you, whose
vision sees beyond appearances to that same truth in everyone and
everything there is. Here is the end of suffering for all the world, and
everyone who ever came and yet will come to linger for a while. Here is
the thought in which the Son of God is born again, to recognize himself.
(3) "I rest in God." Completely undismayed, this thought will carry you
through storms and strife, past misery and pain, past loss and death,
and onward to the certainty of God. There is no suffering it cannot
heal. There is no problem that it cannot solve. And no appearance but
will turn to truth before the eyes of you who rest in God.
(4) This is the day of peace. You rest in God, and while the world is
torn by winds of hate your rest remains completely undisturbed. Yours is
the rest of truth. Appearances cannot intrude on you. You call to all to
join you in your rest, and they will hear and come to you because you
rest in God. They will not hear another voice than yours because you
gave your voice to God, and now you rest in Him and let Him speak
through you.
(5) In Him you have no cares and no concerns, no burdens, no anxiety, no
pain, no fear of future and no past regrets. In timelessness you rest,
while time goes by without its touch upon you, for your rest can never
change in any way at all. You rest today. And as you close your eyes,
sink into stillness. Let these periods of rest and respite reassure your
mind that all its frantic fantasies were but the dreams of fever that
has passed away. Let it be still and thankfully accept its healing. No
more fearful dreams will come, now that you rest in God. Take time today
to slip away from dreams and into peace.
(6) Each hour that you take your rest today, a tired mind is suddenly
made glad, a bird with broken wings begins to sing, a stream long dry
begins to flow again. The world is born again each time you rest, and
hourly remember that you came to bring the peace of God into the world,
that it might take its rest along with you.
(7) With each five minutes that you rest today, the world is nearer
waking. And the time when rest will be the only thing there is comes
closer to all worn and tired minds, too weary now to go their way alone.
And they will hear the bird begin to sing and see the stream begin to
flow again, with hope reborn and energy restored to walk with lightened
steps along the road that suddenly seems easy as they go.
(8) You rest within the peace of God today, and call upon your brothers
from your rest to draw them to their rest, along with you. You will be
faithful to your trust today, forgetting no one, bringing everyone into
the boundless circle of your peace, the holy sanctuary where you rest.
Open the temple doors and let them come from far across the world, and
near as well; your distant brothers and your closest friends; bid them
all enter here and rest with you.
(9) You rest within the peace of God today, quiet and unafraid. Each
brother comes to take his rest, and offer it to you. We rest together
here, for thus our rest is made complete, and what we give today we have
received already. Time is not the guardian of what we give today. We
give to those unborn and those passed by, to every Thought of God, and
to the Mind in which these Thoughts were born and where they rest. And
we remind them of their resting place each time we tell ourselves, "I
rest in God."
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The commentary on this lesson is an excerpt from Kenneth Wapnick's eight volume
series of
books, called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can
be purchased at the following site:??~ M. Street
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson 109. "I rest in God."
*This lesson is a particularly beautiful one, and should be read as a
meditation. I hope not to ruin it by my comments. Note that when Jesus
speaks of resting in God, it is in contrast to the disquiet and dis-ease
of the world. Thus we see again his emphasis on contrasting truth and
illusion: His rest of true quiet, and the ego's of murder -- I am quiet
and peaceful <because> I got what I wanted; I won and you lost, and so I
rest in triumph. Note, too, how the phrase "I rest in God" recurs almost
as a musical motif.*
(1) "We ask for rest today, and quietness unshaken by the world's
appearances. We ask for peace and stillness, in the midst of all the
turmoil born of clashing dreams. We ask for safety and for happiness,
although we seem to look on danger and on sorrow. And we have the
thought that will answer our asking with what we request."
*Jesus is not saying we should disappear on a mountaintop and rest in
God. He asks us to practice this lesson in the midst of our daily world
of turmoil, clashing dreams, danger and sorrow. The goal is to go
through our lives, filled with <sturm und drang>, and still be peaceful.
To be sure, problems are always with us for they are the projections of
guilt, which is also always with us. By choosing forgiveness, however,
the problem in the mind disappears, as do the problems perceived in the
world. What remains is the peace and stillness that come from rest,
which is the happy effect of releasing our hold on guilt.*
(2:1-4) "I rest in God." This thought will bring to you the rest and
quiet, peace and stillness, and the safety and the happiness you seek.
"I rest in God." This thought has power to wake the sleeping truth in
you, whose vision sees beyond appearances to that same truth in everyone
and everything there is."
*We begin with appearances; namely, you and I are different, with
different goals. Asking Jesus for help leads us past appearances to the
truth, as his vision of shared interests replace our judgments. Thus do
our eyes open and we awaken from the dream of separation.*
(3) "I rest in God." Completely undismayed, this thought will carry you
through storms and strife, past misery and pain, past loss and death,
and onward to the certainty of God. There is no suffering it cannot
heal. There is no problem that it cannot solve. And no appearance but
will turn to truth before the eyes of you who rest in God."
*As always, the thought for the day is meant to be practiced. This means
looking at the daily storm and strife, misery and pain with Jesus' eyes.
Seeing the world differently, we know that nothing there can affect the
love and peace within. This, then, is the essence of A Course in
Miracles, which is why Jesus needs us to study and practice his
teachings: to be like him -- beacons of light who call to other minds to
join in their rest.*
(4:1-2) "This is the day of peace. You rest in God, and while the world
is torn by winds of hate your rest remains completely undisturbed."
*This does not mean you do not see the world's hate. It means you do not
let it disturb your peace. The world must be filled with hate because
that is why it was made, and love has no place here; only in Heaven,
when you awaken from the ego's dreams. However, in this world,
forgiveness of hate is possible when you do not take it personally or
let it affect you. Such vision occurs because your mind rests on a
foundation of love far, stronger than the ego's hate.*
(4:6 -- 5:1) "They will not hear another voice than yours because you
gave your voice to God, and now you rest in Him and let Him speak
through you."
"In Him you have no cares and no concerns, no burdens, no anxiety, no
pain, no fear of future and no past regrets."
*Jesus does not say resting in God will take away our individuality. He
does not mean to frighten us. At this stage of our learning it is
important to understand that when we rest in God, we retain a sense of
self, but one free from pain. Remember that the Holy Spirit does not
take away our special relationships, including with our self. He
transforms them from instruments of pain and guilt to ones of
forgiveness and joy, as the following passage explains:
"The Holy Spirit, ever practical in His wisdom, accepts your dreams and
uses them as means for waking. You would have used them to remain
asleep. I said before that the first change, before dreams disappear, is
that your dreams of fear are changed to happy dreams. That is what the
Holy Spirit does in the special relationship. He does not destroy it,
nor snatch it away from you. But He does use it differently, as a help
to make His purpose real to you. The special relationship will remain,
not as a source of pain and guilt, but as a source of joy and freedom.
It will not be for you alone, for therein lay its misery. As its
unholiness kept it a thing apart, its holiness will become an offering
to everyone." (T-18.II.6).
Thus we take the "little steps" (W-pI.193.13.7) that gently and
patiently lead us through pain to peace, time to the timeless instant,
and ultimately to eternal rest in God.*
(6) "Each hour that you take your rest today, a tired mind is suddenly
made glad, a bird with broken wings begins to sing, a stream long dry
begins to flow again. The world is born again each time you rest, and
hourly remember that you came to bring the peace of God into the world,
that it might take its rest along with you."
*It goes without saying that Jesus is not literally talking about a
bird's wing being healed or streams flowing. These are but right-minded
symbols. We could be living in the midst of a desert or in a terrible
drought with no birds anywhere, and we would still feel the peace of
God. These wonderful images reflect to us the joy, peace, and quiet that
come to our minds when we choose to be reborn. Since Christ is one, He
can be reborn only as one. The forgotten song has only one note.*
(7) "With each five minutes that you rest today, the world is nearer
waking. And the time when rest will be the only thing there is comes
closer to all worn and tired minds, too weary now to go their way alone.
And they will hear the bird begin to sing and see the stream begin to
flow again, with hope reborn and energy restored to walk with lightened
steps along the road that suddenly seems easy as they go."
*This is a beautiful lesson to read quietly by yourself, and while doing
so, realize if you do not bring your pain and suffering to its thoughts,
they mean nothing more to you than beautiful words that inspire you for
fifteen seconds. You then close the book and return to all that had
disturbed you previously. Yet bringing the upset to the lesson's beauty,
if only for five minutes each hour, is all that is required to share its
vision, that it become your until time ends.*
(8:1) "You rest within the peace of God today, and call upon your
brothers from your rest to draw them to their rest, along with you."
*This is not accomplished by external words, but by the simple presence
that reminds them that they can make the same happy choice you did. Love
always calls to love, that it be itself.*
(9) "You rest within the peace of God today, quiet and unafraid. Each
brother comes to take his rest, and offer it to you. We rest together
here, for thus our rest is made complete, and what we give today we have
received already. Time is not the guardian of what we give today. We
give to those unborn and those passed by, to every Thought of God, and
to the Mind in which these Thoughts were born and where they rest. And
we remind them of their resting place each time we tell ourselves, "I
rest in God."
*The locus of this rest is the part of the mind wherein dwells the
timeless Thought of God, embracing God's Son as one. In that timeless
instant we find our rest, as we hear God's Voice gently speak to us of
Heaven's love, as we speak to our brothers. The final lines of "Awake in
Stillness" provide a lovely end to the discussion of this lovely lesson:
The Son of God
Has come to join you now. His shining hand
Is on your shoulder. And God's silent Voice
Speaks ceaselessly of Heaven. You will hear
His single message calling to His Own
From His abiding place, to wake in God.
(The Gifts of God, p.73).*
