O Lord! how hap­py should we be,
If we could leave our cares to Thee,
If we from self could rest;
And feel at heart that One above,
In per­fect wis­dom, per­fect love,
Is work­ing for the best.

How far from this our dai­ly life
How oft dis­turbed by anx­ious strife,
By sud­den wild alarms;
Oh, could we but relinq­uish all
Our earth­ly props, and simp­ly fall
On Thy al­migh­ty arms

Could we but kneel and cast our care
Upon our God in hum­ble pray­er,
With strength­ened souls we rise,
Sure that our Fa­ther who is nigh,
To hear the ra­vens when they cry,
Will hear His child­ren’s cries.

We can­not trust Him as we should;
So chafes weak na­ture’s rest­less mood
To cast its peace away;
But birds and flow­er­ets round us preach,
All, all the pre­sent ev­il teach
Sufficient for the day.

Lord, make these faith­less hearts of ours
Such les­sons learn from birds and flow­ers,
And learn from self to cease;
Leave all things to a Fa­ther’s will,
And taste, be­fore Him ly­ing still
E’en in af­flict­ion, peace!