You should ignore all the strife
and anxieties of life;
worry not about your food,
what you drink, or being nude.
Is not life more than meat,
the body more than wear?
Look at those who do not reap,
the warblers of the air!
And yet they their Father feeds,
though their barn be bare.
Does not your value far exceed?
Who among you by your care,
can a minute guarantee,
or add an hour spare?
Why are you anxious about clothes?
Look at how the lily grows!
It toils not, and oh, it shows –
even Solomon in repose
was not arrayed like one of those!
But if God wraps grasses and the fern,
which live today, tomorrow burn,
is He not with you more concerned?
How much more He will clothe you in turn!
Therefore do not become stressed,
saying, “How shall we be dressed?”
or “What food and drink will we digest?”
O’er these things sinners obsess
and God knows your neediness.
But seek first God’s righteousness,
and these things you will possess.
About the next day you can’t see,
be not dismayed and antsy,
The morrow has its own worries,
sufficient is today’s flurry.
