The Power of Gratitude

“After having read this memoir, I would suspect that Mike and Liz Garry would bristle a bit to be called saints, but it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that these two were some of God’s choicest servants. Patrick Garry has done his readers a great service in painting such a lovely portrait of two lives well-lived and the virtue that animated them in this compelling, instructive, convicting, and joy-filled volume. I’m better for having read it.”


—Trey Dimsdale, executive director, Center of Religion, Culture, & Democracy





“Patrick Garry has written a wonderful book in which he uncovers a secret that his parents knew all along: gratefulness paired with faith is the key to a happy and fulfilling life. The book is filled with touching anecdotes that provide insight into human nature. I will be giving copies to my own children, hoping that they impart its wisdom to their kids.”


—Ronald J. Rychlak, professor of law, University of Mississippi School of Law





“Through the beautifully told story of his own family, Patrick Garry offers a profound and universal lesson. Gratitude, he shows us, is a kind of master virtue that makes the other virtues possible and puts genuine flourishing within our reach.”


—Yuval Levin, author of A Time to Build





“Mike and Elizabeth Garry were icons of Midwestern civic culture and pillars of their community of Fairview, Minnesota. They personified the ethic of neighborliness, the art of friendship, and the pursuit of decency as an ideology. The Garrys’ story is beautifully told by a grateful son, whose moving meditation channels Jon Hassler’s skill at purveying the humanity of small-town Catholic benevolence and brings life to the idea and practice of Midwestern niceness.”


—Jon Lauck, editor in chief, Middle West Review





“Patrick Garry didn’t understand until after his parents died how gratitude set them free to live beautiful and generative lives. Nor did he understand that gratitude is much more than an expected response to something good. But he gets that now and wants readers to grasp it, too. Telling engaging stories about his parents’ lives, Garry teaches readers that lives of perpetual thankfulness can fill the world with joy.”


—Bill Tammeus, journalist and columnist, Flatland





“The Power of Gratitude portrays how the lives of Mike and Liz Garry reflected and exemplified the true, deeper meaning of gratitude. They found in every person they met those positive attributes each one possessed, regardless of their status in life. The eloquent manner in which this book is written clearly illustrates the many instances where Mike and Liz exhibited interest, concern, and respect for each person they encountered, including their love of Fairmont.”


—Lenny Tvedten, executive director, Martin County Historical Society





“We are not grateful enough for creation, not grateful enough to render unto God the gratitude he’s due for having made the world and all its creatures, but also not grateful enough to realize our own joy. In The Power of Gratitude, Patrick Garry tells the story of his parents’ lives as a lesson and a carol. ‘While they lived their lives, gratitude infused them with energy, hope and optimism,’ he observes. And joy was the result: the joy that ought to come for all of us in the morning and fill the days of those around us.”


—Joseph Bottum, author of An Anxious Age