No Two Alike – Each a Unique Creation
Summer 2013 has brought a marvelous experience of the ways God creates each person as a unique individual, even twins who are nearly identical in outward appearance. Each person is a unique creation.
For about four months this year, twin boys who are ten years old have lived with us and shared our activities, including a long road trip to visit family and a short camping trip this summer. They are not from the United States and English is their second language. When we first met them in January and spent six weeks together then, they did not understand much of the family conversation. Now, after an additional 2½ months, they are able to understand much more and have spent many hours in the past two weeks composing brief stories about the many things we have done while they have been here.
The boys are very talented musically and share many interests in common. They are nearly the same height and weight. They look very much alike. Each day, their clothing matches. They play the same games and learn to play each other’s instruments. One’s face is slightly more rounded and the other’s is a bit longer. It’s much easier to know which one I am speaking with when they are together!
Yet despite all of these similarities, they are different people. One speaks more slowly and seemingly with greater difficulty. The other speaks more easily and quickly. However, when the time comes to write, the one who speaks slowly writes many pages and the one who speaks easily struggles to think what to write. One is more daring and has learned the basics of swimming. The other is still very nervous in the water and barely dog paddles. He struggles to relax enough to float. One eats quickly, the other slowly. One is quick to seek his mother’s help. The other is more independent. One tries to draw dogs while the other makes stick figures on a baseball field.
Both of these boys have one foot in younger childhood and the other firmly in middle childhood. Our family four-year-old’s tricycle is so very attractive, but all the adults keep insisting they use their own bicycles instead! One minute they are playing with a fabric ball and the next they are outside kicking a soccer ball. Chutes and Ladders is the game of choice one minute and Go is preferred the next.
Still, each is a unique individual. It surprises them to discover their differences. “He weighs more than I do!” “He isn’t writing as much as I am.” “I can swim better than he can.” “He doesn’t play this piece as well as I do.” “He doesn’t want to play this game with me.”
The boys will be returning home very soon now and our home will become a much quieter place for a while. Our families have become close, however, and I expect we’ll spend time together again in the coming years.
The time we’ve had together this summer has helped me see in ways I would not otherwise have experienced how truly creative our God is. Despite the fact that these two boys are so alike, they are separate and unique individuals. God does not create identical people, even if they happen to have the same genetic signature. No two of us are alike. We each have our own relationships with God and with each other. Each of us has our own path through life and we are blessed to share it with family and friends. Yet each of us is the unique handiwork of an infinitely creative God — a God who is love overflowing into Creation.
