Mirror Twins
We are each of us like a small mirror in which God searches for His reflection.—St. John Vianney
Circa 1984 (I don’t know which is which)
November 17th, 2025
📍Salida, Colorado, USA 🇺🇸
Greetings from the wilderness!
Did you know I'm an identical twin? And not just any identical twin — a rare mirror twin. Think of it like standing in front of a mirror: the person looking back at you is you, just reversed. That's what my twin sister and I are like. Similar face, voice, even hands… flipped. Sometimes I catch my reflection in a bathroom mirror and for a split second, I don't see myself at all. I see her.
Growing up as a mirror twin meant living in a perpetual reflection. She's an Enneagram 4 (envy); I'm an Enneagram 8 (lust). She arrived in the world first, but I'm the alpha twin. She'd lose a tooth on one side of her mouth, and like clockwork, I'd lose that same tooth on the opposite side. Even this January (on different continents and me having had a hysterectomy), we found ourselves doubled over in hormonal pain on opposite sides of our bodies at the same time. Absurd? Absolutely. But very on-brand for identical mirror twins.
Because of this, I've always carried an intuitive sense of what it means to reflect others back to themselves, and what it feels like to be reflected in return.
The Divine Mirror
Neuroscience suggests that our ability to reflect on each other stems from our mirror neurons — the mimicry that helps us learn as children and develop empathy as adults. But the mystics say there’s something even deeper happening. According to Vianney and echoed by Richard Rohr, this isn't just how we relate to each other — it's how we relate to God:
"When God gazes at us and we gaze at God we light up. . . . And God lights up with the joy of being recognized by the one created in God's own image… It's a tender recognition of oneness that we might rest in — resting in us, through us, beyond us — in the endless interconnectedness of life itself, of love."
In that gaze, God's and ours, something in us comes alive. Something remembers. And honestly? So much of my healing journey has happened in that relational space with the I AM—and through a therapist who mirrors me with compassion, and through friendships where we hold pieces of each other we can't carry alone.
At the AWAKEN Retreat 2025
A Twin Story (Because of Course)
Just this past Saturday, my sister and I found ourselves in one of those mirror moments. In a moment of safe vulnerability, she shared a struggle she's walking through right now. And as she spoke, I felt my own story rising to meet hers — because, of course, we're navigating the exact same thing at the exact same time.
Identical twins doing identical twin things.
But the gift wasn't the similarity. It was the recognition — the way we could see ourselves through each other and walk away feeling deeply known. That mutual seeing is holy. It's healing.
A Lesson from Water
This whole mirror twin theme came roaring back last July in Amatlán, Mexico, when I began my Janzu training. On day one, we were asked to meditate on the strength of water and how it lives in us.
Right away, I saw a vision: me, standing over a still pool. The water didn't flatter me. It didn't distort me. It didn't show me who I wanted to be — it showed me who I was. And something in me recognized the truth of it. I could hold the weight of that reflection because, in some way, I've been holding mirrors my entire life.
I was built for this.
Janzu with my twin sister
““Water reflects what is. Not what we pretend to be, not what we strive to become, but what is right now.””
Our 44th birthday together at the Denver Botanic Gardens
Why a Mirror Twin?
I've often wondered why God chose to write my story with such a literal, embodied metaphor: identical twins, mirrored in reverse. But Janzu clarified it for me.
I was made to reflect.
To see people honestly.
To help them see themselves clearly.
And to let myself be seen in return.
If Vianney and Rohr are right — and I think they are — then this is one of the most sacred things we can do for each other:
Gaze with love.
Recognize the Divine in the other.
Let ourselves be recognized, too.
Because we're all mirrors. And God is always looking for Their own reflection in us.
A Final Thought
The older I get, the more convinced I am that healing doesn't happen in isolation, but in relationship. It happens in the honest, awkward, grace-soaked spaces where we let ourselves be seen — not the "curated spiritual self," but the real, unfiltered one.
If we really are mirrors of God, then every moment of genuine recognition — between friends, between sisters, between strangers, between us and YHWH — is a tiny act of resurrection. A moment where something in us gets to live again.
So let me leave you with a question, one that's been weighing on me lately: Who in your life reflects you back to yourself — not the version you wish you were, but who you truly are right now?
And maybe the harder question: Are you willing to look?
With Love, unconditionally—
Jennifer
P.S.—I’d love to hear from YOU! Rather than emailing me or dropping me a DM, please post a comment below 👇
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