“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.” — Genesis 2:8, KJV

When God created human beings, He also created the environment in which they would live.

And I think that's worth thinking about.

Adam didn't open his eyes inside a crowded city.

He wasn't surrounded by concrete.

He didn't wake to an alarm, sit in traffic, spend eight hours under artificial lights, drive home, eat dinner and spend the remainder of his evening looking at a screen.

God placed him in a garden.

Before there was a house, an office, a gym or even a grocery store, there was Eden.

There were trees.

Plants.

Sunlight.

Fresh air.

Water.

Movement.

Work.

Rest.

And most importantly, the presence of God.

What fascinates me is that these things weren't presented to Adam as a health program.

God didn't hand him a checklist and say:

Get thirty minutes of exercise.

Remember to get some sunlight.

Spend fifteen minutes outdoors.

Drink your water.

Adam's environment naturally incorporated many of the things his body needed.

Healthy living was simply living.

And perhaps our modern lives have moved so far away from that original design that we now have to intentionally schedule what once occurred naturally.

Eden Included Work

Genesis 2:15 tells us:

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

This was before sin.

Work wasn't the punishment.

God gave Adam useful work while the world was still perfect.

That's significant.

The garden needed tending.

Adam's body moved.

His hands worked.

He interacted with the natural world around him.

Today, we often have to create artificial opportunities for movement because so much of life has been engineered to eliminate it.

We drive instead of walk.

Machines perform physical work for us.

Food arrives at our doors.

Entertainment comes to our screens.

Many of us can work, shop, socialize and entertain ourselves without leaving the house.

Technology has made many things easier.

But easier does not always mean closer to the way the human body was designed to live.

Perhaps we don't need to reject modern conveniences.

But we may need to become more intentional about what those conveniences have removed.

Eden Had a Rhythm

There is another part of God's design we shouldn't overlook.

God didn't create humanity for endless productivity.

There was work.

But there was also rest.

There was activity.

But there was also communion with God.

There was food provided by the earth.

There was water.

There was sunlight.

There was the natural rhythm of day and night.

Modern life can blur those boundaries.

Artificial light allows us to extend the day.

Technology allows work to follow us home.

Phones allow people to reach us almost anywhere.

Entertainment can continue long after our bodies are asking for sleep.

Food can be eaten at any hour.

We can spend an entire day without touching soil, seeing the sun for more than a few minutes, or sitting quietly without something demanding our attention.

And then we wonder why healthy living feels like something we have to work into our lives.

Maybe the question isn't only:

What healthy habit should I add?

Maybe another question is:

What has my modern life displaced that God originally built into human life?

That question changes things.

Because instead of continually adding...

perhaps we can begin restoring.

Moving Back Toward the Garden

Most of us aren't going to wake up tomorrow morning in Eden.

And moving toward God's original design doesn't require pretending we live in a world without cars, computers, jobs, cities or air conditioning.

It means looking at the principles found in God's design and asking:

How can I make more room for these in the life I actually have?

Here are some places to begin.

Bring growing things back into your life.

You don't need acres of land to grow something.

Start with herbs in a sunny window.

Grow tomatoes in containers.

Plant lettuce.

Put a few vegetables in the backyard.

If you have property, consider gradually creating a garden.

There is something very different about participating in the process of growing food instead of experiencing food only after it has been packaged and placed on a shelf.

You don't have to become a farmer.

Just grow something.

Let useful work become movement.

Not every bit of physical activity needs to happen in a gym.

Mow the lawn.

Pull weeds.

Sweep the porch.

Wash the car.

Work in the garden.

Take the stairs.

Walk somewhere nearby when practical.

Do some of the things we've increasingly hired machines to do for us.

There is a beautiful simplicity in allowing the work of everyday life to move the body.

Move some of your indoor life outside.

This may be one of the easiest changes.

If you're going to read, could you read outside?

If you're going to talk on the phone, could you walk while you talk?

Could breakfast occasionally happen on the porch?

Could the children do some of their schoolwork outdoors?

Could you sit outside for your morning prayer?

You don't necessarily need to find additional time to be outdoors.

Sometimes you can take something you're already doing...

and change where you do it.

Begin allowing daylight to shape your day again.

Open the curtains in the morning.

Step outside when the day begins.

Notice when the sun goes down.

Allow your body to experience the distinction between day and night.

And as evening comes, consider whether every light, television and screen needs to remain bright until bedtime.

We cannot recreate Eden.

But we can stop pretending that our bodies have somehow outgrown the natural world God created them to inhabit.

Protect rest.

God's original design included something modern culture continually tries to erase:

limits.

There is a time to work.

And there is a time to stop.

Create boundaries around work.

Put the phone down.

Turn the computer off.

Allow the house to become quiet.

And honor the Sabbath not merely as a day when you don't perform your regular employment, but as the gift God intended—a weekly interruption of the world's demand for constant productivity.

Simplify where you can.

This may be the most challenging one.

Not everything that makes life faster makes life better.

Sometimes we accumulate so many responsibilities, possessions, subscriptions, commitments and expectations that maintaining our lives consumes the very time we need to actually live them.

Ask:

Does this need to be part of my life?

Not everything has to go.

But perhaps some things do.

Because simplifying isn't always about having less.

Sometimes it's about making room for what matters more.

What About Country Living?

For some families, moving toward God's design may eventually involve something much larger.

A change of environment.

Ellen G. White repeatedly counseled God's people, particularly families raising children, toward country living.

That counsel deserves more consideration than simply romanticizing a house surrounded by trees.

Country living can create opportunities for things that modern life often forces us to schedule separately:

Outdoor work.

Growing food.

Sunlight.

Fresh air.

Space for children to move.

Greater contact with nature.

A different pace of life.

That doesn't mean purchasing rural property automatically produces a godly or healthy lifestyle.

You can move to ten acres and spend the entire day inside staring at a screen.

The location isn't the entire principle.

The question is what kind of life the environment allows—and what kind of life we choose to build within it.

And for someone who cannot move right now, the principle is still useful.

You can begin moving toward God's design before you change your address.

Don't Try to Change Everything Monday Morning

This is important.

Please don't read this article and create twelve new rules for yourself.

That would defeat the entire point.

We're trying to make life simpler, not create another exhausting wellness program.

Choose one thing.

Maybe you grow your first herb.

Maybe you eat breakfast outside.

Maybe you take your morning prayer onto the porch.

Maybe you begin a small garden.

Maybe you turn the television off earlier.

Maybe your family starts taking an evening walk.

Maybe you begin seriously praying about whether your present environment is where God wants your family long-term.

Start somewhere.

Then allow that change to become part of your life.

And when it does...

perhaps add another.

We Can't Return to Eden—Yet

The entrance to Eden was closed after sin.

We cannot recreate a perfect world through gardening, country living or spending more time outside.

This world is still broken.

But that doesn't mean God's original design has nothing to teach us about how He created human beings to live.

In fact, perhaps it should make us pay even closer attention.

God created the body.

God created the environment.

God created food.

God created work.

God created rest.

God created the Sabbath.

God created human beings to live in relationship with Him.

And He looked at what He had made and called it very good.

Perhaps better health isn't always about discovering something new.

Sometimes...

it's about returning to something old.

I'm Inez Reyes, and thank you for reading.

If you haven't listened to this week's episode of Law & Order, “Fresh Air: The Law We Shut Outside,” I invite you to listen at Blessed Impressions Media. And this week, instead of simply asking what healthy habit you need to add, consider a different question:

What is one part of God's original design that you can begin bringing back into your life?

That's a companion blog I think earns its existence. The podcast leads someone to notice fresh air; the blog zooms all the way out and asks what Eden reveals about the kind of life human beings were originally designed to live. And instead of repeating the podcast's fresh-air challenge, it gives the reader a path for gradually changing the structure of everyday life.