I recently saw a phone booth. It made me take a second look. You don’t see them very much anymore.

Phone booths are kind of like the milk man. They remind you of another era.

As modern people, we are at risk of dismissing good things about the past. We quickly fall in love with the latest fad or think that newer ideas are always better ideas. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t. An idea is not good just because it’s new.

In light of that, here’s an important question. As we rush into a dizzying future, are we too quick to dismiss things our ancestors did and which made them feel healthy, strong, and at peace?

I was reflecting on this recently with therapist Sarah Joy Covey. We noticed that there are things people don’t do as much anymore, but which are due for a comeback. One is porch-sitting. The other is the “evening constitutional.” We describe a bit more about each of these simple, accessible and joy-recovering practices in an article just published by Faith Today Magazine. (If you’d like, you can link to it below.) 

Today, the point is this. God put each and every one of us in a beautiful world. There are beaches and singing birds. There are trails, music, and the evening breeze. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want to be health, strong and at peace. What if setting aside some time to sit outside and watch the world go by, or to walk around the neighbourhood after dinner, or to just be still (without your phone), was just what your soul needed. 

Psalm 46:10 is underlined in a lot of Bibles: “Be still, and know that I am God…” In the context of that psalm, it is a reminder that God continues to be God even when it seems like the world is falling apart. Nations rise and fall, and the earth itself seems to shake; through it all, God is on his throne. 

We need that reminder too. Perhaps we also need to maintain a few simple, restorative practices that many of our ancestors practiced. They help us exhale and remind us that God is God (and that we are not).

A mind that doesn’t rest well is a mind that doesn’t work well.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

---

Notes and extra content:

—ARTICLE: “Recovering the lost art of porch-sitting and the evening constitutional.” Click here. Read time: less than 2 minutes.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.