One day in a private session one of my teachers asked me why birds sing.

Yes! This was an opportunity to impress her. To let her know I had paid close attention to her teachings over the years of working with her. To share from my deep well of accumulated wisdom. So I reflected for a moment on her question, took a long, slow breath. And launched.

Well. I rambled on at length about the web of all life and the sacred vibration that weaves us all together. About how everything is connected and interdependent. How the bird song is part of the energy that awakens the Earth each spring…blah, blah, blah. When at long last I was finished she smiled one of her smiles that lives next to laughter, and said graciously, “Yes. All of that is true. But it is not the answer I was looking for.”

It took me a year to find that answer. And of course it only came when I was ready to receive it. After four weeks in Ireland this past summer searching for answers. After months  of gentle yet persistent encouragement from my teachers. After finally surrendering fully and unconditionally to this spiritual journey of ancient discovery, knowing that this is the work of my soul. After all that, the answer came from the pages of a book during my research this winter. It came as an affirmation.

A bird sings because it has a song.