The Birds of the Air

The discourse makes several references to the natural world: ravens (in Luke), lilies and moths are all mentioned.

33 But seek first the kingdom of God[c] and his[d] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.From Luke 12, 22–32: 22 He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.

The New King James Version incorporates Luke 12:33–34 within the same section: Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.

For him the birds of the air and the lilies of the field represented instructors in "religious joy", an appreciation that "there is a today".

[2] Worldly worry always seeks to lead a human being into the small-minded unrest of comparisons, away from the lofty calmness of simple thoughts.

... Should not the invitation to learn from the lilies be welcome to everyone ... As the ingenuity and busyness increase, there come to be more and more in each generation who slavishly work a whole lifetime far down in the low underground regions of comparisons.

Conrad Myers sees in the reference to Solomon "and all his glory" a subtle echo of Ecclesiastes 2:11 "But when I turned to all the works that my hands had wrought, and to the toil at which I had taken such pains, behold!