Workbook · Part I
Lesson 109
I rest in God.
What this lesson is saying
Today’s idea is: “I rest in God.” In ordinary English: Rest in God. Rest is not laziness. It is stopping the private management.
Guidance here is not a ghost and not a performance. It is the part of your mind that is not at war, noticed when you get quiet. The commentator will try to help. Let it run down. Kindness after you stand up is a good test that you actually listened.
You do not have to believe it first. You use the words on one real judgment — of someone, of yourself, of a situation — and then you take the next ordinary step.
This is not saying
This is not asking you to manufacture a voice, skip ordinary advice, or treat every impulse as God. Fear of sitting still is often cultural. Note the fear. Sit anyway. Do not invent.
Why this can change a day
A day run only by the commentator is a day of attack and defense. A little stillness is how a different next step can arrive — at work, at home, in the next conversation.
In your day
Same idea, three ordinary places — a relationship or encounter, the case against yourself, and a situation at work or at home. You do not need a special mood.
With someone
Unhappiness used as proof you are serious, or holy. Joy looks suspicious.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I rest in God.” Notice where you postponed joy until they change, or until you have suffered enough. Take one hour without that bargain.
Toward yourself
You tighten in a conversation to stay safe — attack dressed as self-protection.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I rest in God.” Notice the tightening. Drop the wish to strike. Keep any clear no. You do not have to hate them to be safe.
At work, at home, or in a situation
Spiritual language tempts you to skip ordinary life — eat later, help later, leave the day.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I rest in God.” Correct the reading. Stay in the day. Eat. Help. The ordinary hour is not the enemy of this lesson. The overlay is.
Two voices in the same mind
Hear which one is running. Then today’s idea, on a real person — or on you.
Unloving thought
God’s will for me is a test, or later, or less. I will be holy when I have suffered enough.
Jesus’s way
“I rest in God.” Sit. Do not manufacture a voice. If a thought flatters you or hurries you, it is not this. Kindness after you stand is a good test.
Spalding · 2019 · episode #310
Jesus’s commentary for Lesson 109
Tina reads the official workbook lesson first. Then she channels. The video is the source. The notes below are study notes of that sitting — not a transcript, and not A Year of Forgiveness.
After the reading
In the video · Jesus speaking
This is the channeled portion — after Tina has read the lesson. Study notes of that sitting. Not a transcript.
- On “I rest in God” Jesus through Tina (2019) takes the workbook at its word and applies it to the programmed mind — culture, church, screens — not to a monastery.
- Then let the commentary speak to the resistance that comes up.
- After Tina reads Lesson 109, the channeling is living “I rest in God.” He will not let it stay a slogan. Use these words. Do not swap them for a thought you like better.
How to sit today
Part I · One Self
The idea is above. This is the one sitting this number asks — how often, how long, and the words. Not a second lesson.
- How often
- Five minutes of each hour — the first five minutes of the hour when you can
- How long
- Five minutes
- Through the day
- Repeat the idea between sittings so the hour is not a desert.
- If you forget
- Lesson 95 is the rule for lapses: omit as few as possible, and do not let a lapse become a story that you have failed.
How
- Lesson 109 continues the five-minutes-an-hour training of this stretch. Begin with the idea, close your eyes, and let related thoughts come or simply rest in the sentence.
- If an hour is missed, return at the next one. Do not throw the day away because part of it was forgotten.
Longer sitting
Five minutes of each hour — the first five minutes of the hour when you can
- Today’s idea is: “I rest in God.”
- Begin with the idea. Close your eyes. Let related thoughts come, or simply rest in the sentence.
- Say, slowly: “I rest in God.”
- If an hour is missed, return at the next one. Do not throw the day away because part of it was forgotten. Lesson 95 is the rule for lapses.
Short / hourly
Between sittings, so the hour is not a desert
- Say, slowly: “I rest in God.”
These scripts follow the workbook’s own method for this number — duration, frequency, and the sentences it asks you to use. They are a study paraphrase, not a replacement. Read the official lesson at acim.org and follow any wording it gives that is more specific than this card.
Words you may not know
Full glossaryCourse words do not mean what church, psychology, or ordinary English usually mean. These notes are for this lesson — tap a word.
Other voices — Tina, Ra, Carla
Short notes from the four streams. The teaching above is the lesson. These are doors if you want them.
Spalding
On “I rest in God” Jesus through Tina (2019) takes the workbook at its word and applies it to the programmed mind — culture, church, screens — not to a monastery. Do the exercise as written. Then let the commentary speak to the resistance that comes up. The resistance is the lesson.
Watch this lesson’s commentaryRa
This lesson is practice in polarizing with the person in front of you. Service to others is not a slogan. It is whether you treat them as the same being you are.
Open streamRueckert
A wanderer on Earth does not need a different lesson. She needs this one, done with her hands. Carla's whole archive is the proof: contact follows a life, it does not replace it.
Open stream