When the sun shines and there is a smile on your spouses waking face

When the car arrives and you all sang your way to your favorite place

When the report comes back and you are cancer free internally 

When the weather changes bring you some deep joy externally

 

When the nervous calm awaits to receive the “A+” paper from his hand

When the hopeful girl sees her man on one knee offering a shiny band

When the paycheck is enough for that months food, fun, and rent

When the email says that even without wifi it has somehow sent

 

In every “when” my God I thank You for your providential common grace

I rejoice to tell you that you have brought me joy in all of life’s taste

 I thank you because I remember You.

Yet I know oh Lord that the good things are, but a shadow from here

For this earth is full of pain, remorse, godlessness, and dreaded tears

 

When the cold months come in and your kids do not have any sweaters

When the counter is full of fines, bills, and hateful unnerving letters

When the loved one is lost to chase a word of sin and shame

When the hope of any material blessing is lost to another’s fame

 

When the relationship status remains, “single” until a late age

When the police are handcuffing you because of “their” road rage

When the friends begin to look less like friends and more like fraud

When the perfect man is murdered on a cross, the Son of God

 

In every “when” my God I thank you for your common and special grace

I rejoice with a tear for you bring me joy to an eternal new taste

 I thank You because I remember You

For I was on the path to hell eternally condemned as a suffering sinner

Yet Christ died for me and ran my race and I have his title as “winner.”