I had a dark and haunting dream last night and awoke with a sad and jarring phrase running through my head over and over again.

While these are certainly not the kinds of things I normally associate with Thanksgiving, I’ve learned that rather than fight the incoming flow of thoughts and feelings and to try to “change the subject” in my head, it is best to simply embrace and record the jumbled rush of thoughts and feelings as a scribe would when his master speaks. But unlike a scribe, I don’t feel subservient. I feel blessed to be given a gift; a sacred trust.

I often have to furiously write lest some critical pieces be forgotten and lost forever. When the flow starts, I sometimes have no idea what form it will eventually become; a song, story, poem, or something else entirely.

I’ve learned to trust the flow, and believe it has been entrusted to me to share it, as I believe we all are given gifts that are intended to be shared. For these reasons, I feel special, but no more special than anyone else.

While our gifts may be different, I believe that each is valuable and important.

I feel an obligation to share mine. It is as though they are merely being loaned to me and the true owners are those who would be touched by the gifts that flow through me.

It has just been revealed to me what this piece is supposed to be about. When I started typing I thought it was going to go in a very different direction, but I’m pleased at where the flow is going. It’s like being a boat on a mysterious river or a bird on the wing on a windy day which trusts the wind to take it where it needs to go.

The destination for this piece of the journey is finally in sight.

From a haunting dream and imagery that launched me on this part of my wondrous journey today, the flow has led me to my desk, and thoughts of gifts, and my feelings of gratitude for them. Gratitude for my friends and loved ones—those who I’ve met—and those I haven’t but who still love me as I love them.

Gratitude for each of you. For the love you’ve given to me, and for the time many of you have taken out of your busy lives to comment on the fruits of the flow that I’ve been blessed to be able to share with you. It is my hope that at least some of these posts have touched you in pleasing ways.

Thank you for the many gifts you’ve shared with me and for the many smiles, and much laughter, inspiration, and so much more that they’ve brought to me and my life.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it on this day, and for those who don’t, I also wish for you a day full of happiness worthy of giving thanks.

Russ
PS As for the dream and phrase I mentioned at the beginning of this post, it is still flowing and you will likely learn more of it in a later post, as its tone ill-fits the theme of this day.