Life as a Twin

What’s it like to have shared a womb, dreams, life with someone who looks like you, thinks like you, and is your instant and forever best friend? It’s not a double blessing; it’s a triple blessing. You’re blessed if you have a sibling, double blessed if you have one of your own gender and triple blessed if you have a twin. Having a twin is the wonderful icing on the double layer cake. She sticks by you, she enhances you, she perfects you.

When Dorothea and I were growing up, people stared at us and compared us. They often treated us as one entity, calling us “the twins”, instead of by our given names. Like everything else in adolescence, this obliteration of our separate identities bothered me. So, after graduating high school, my twin and I split and went our separate ways. We attended different art schools, hundreds of miles apart. The adjustment was difficult. We had to learn to trust others, open up to virtual strangers and make friends. Dot and I were forced to share with friends those things we had previously only shared with each other. All in all, though, it was a valuable experience.

We’ve been geographically apart ever since. Today an entire ocean separates us, but we are closer than we have ever been. Since both of us have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we share an even deeper, spiritual, connection. And that connection extends to anyone who knows the Lord personally. I’ve met Christians from all over the world with whom I feel an intimate kinship.

Back to twins and my conclusion: Having shared a womb (and in Dot’s and my case, identical genes) doesn’t diminish a twin’s singularity; it is what makes each one unique.

Today I am thankful for two gifts of God:

Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Dorothea--Greek, meaning "gift of God."