"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."  So observes the late poet Maya Angelou in a quote which has been floating around rather a lot lately, including on a newly issued American postage stamp.
     If we project this sentiment onto ourselves, the human being, we see that if we insist on speaking solely to promote or highlight our point of view, we miss the point of speaking and being.  Although some of us, be it as a result of political convictions, religious beliefs, or tribal and communal loyalties, may well believe that our position is always unalterably and absolutely correct, we err when we suppose that it should be the only thing about which we speak.  Life is vastly more than advocating one's position.
     Yes, in this life we deal with difficult metaphysical questions, and yes, in this life we face countless points of inner spiritual and social and political decision.  Yet if we forget that before we grapple with any of these things we are living and wonderfully creative human beings, we overlook a fundamental existential task.
     In the midst of our metaphysical and social uncertainties, we do well to remember that life is ultimately about singing our song--in all of its essential and necessary realities and permutations.
     Whatever we sing, it's in God's hands.