Article November 22, 1999 Issue

THE ABC's OF GRATITUDE

Howard A. Swanson

In my senior year in high school, I had an experience that taught me a lot about gratitude. I had had an outstanding attendance record in school, with no absences caused by illness for the eleven plus years I had attended up to this point; but on this occasion I came down with an extreme facial disorder.

Even though I wanted to keep my excellent attendance record, I had to remain home for two days. On the third day the thought came to me to look away from the material conditions and to dwell completely on expressing my gratitude to God. I did this in a way that I could understand at that time, by taking each letter of the alphabet and finding a quality of God that began with that letter.

I thought of a as representing God's allness and thought about how God is always present. Next, I thought of b in connection with God's beauty, and knew this could not be blemished in any way; c as God's caring, and so on through the alphabet. I had a little trouble with some of the letters but was surprised to find the inspiration that this brought to me.