Welcome to His House,
A parable of spiritual intimacy,
Written by me,
Judy Boozer.
This story is a parable,
A spiritual journey told through metaphor,
Inviting you beyond information and into experience.
Now before we begin,
I want to share a brief note about language.
Throughout His House,
God is presented using masculine pronouns.
This isn't because I believe God is male,
But because as a woman,
I wanted to capture the experience of intimacy with a being whose thought process and essence felt entirely different from my own.
To do that,
I chose the other side of the human duality,
Masculinity,
To represent the divine within this story.
My hope is that regardless of gender,
You hear beyond the words,
Into the relationship,
The longing,
And the love that the story reveals.
Each chapter opens a window into the soul's walk towards God's house,
A walk that moves through symbols,
Emotions,
And revelation.
To fully enter this journey,
It helps to begin not with the mind,
But with the heart.
These moments aren't meant to be hurried or analyzed.
They're meant to be felt.
So before we begin Chapter 2,
The Hall of Mirrors,
We'll take a few quiet moments together to slow down,
Breathe,
And become present,
Body,
Mind,
And spirit,
So that you can experience the story rather than simply hear it.
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose,
And release it gently through your mouth.
Let your shoulders soften.
Let your jaw unclench.
Let the pace of your day begin to fall away.
Feel the support beneath you,
The ground,
The chair,
The earth.
You are safe here.
You are held.
Another slow,
Deep breath in,
And out.
With each breath,
Let your awareness move closer to this moment,
Closer to stillness.
Nothing to prove,
Nothing to produce,
Just this space to be.
Now imagine yourself standing on a quiet path.
The air around you is calm,
Almost expectant.
Somewhere ahead,
There's a soft light,
A glow you can't quite see clearly yet,
But it calls to something deep within you.
This light,
This call,
Is the beginning of your journey to His house.
Breathe deeply again,
And as you do,
Let go of whatever might distract you.
The noise,
The planning,
The worries,
The waiting.
Let them rest beside the path for now.
Whisper inwardly,
I am here.
I am listening.
Stay with that readiness for one more slow,
Deep breath.
Now gently,
Let's begin Chapter 2,
The Hall of Mirrors.
It's time,
He said,
Looking at me.
Time for what?
I asked.
Time to revisit the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Oh,
I thought we were finished with that.
Haven't we already conquered that?
I walked through it to get here.
The valley is always there,
Growing and expanding.
I planned,
Planted,
And shaped the valley.
There'll come a time when you recognize the valley as your friend,
Not your enemy.
There may even be a day when you ask me to take you through the valley instead of waiting for it,
Like a punishment.
What should I bring?
You can bring whatever you want.
Just know that whatever you bring will be left behind there.
As we approached the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
I was surprised.
It didn't look like a valley at all.
It looked like a big circus tent.
I looked around,
Confused.
Where are the trees?
I asked.
Where's the forest?
This is not how it looked when I last walked through.
The Valley of the Shadow of Death changes as you do.
Before,
You saw it through eyes filled with fear.
So it was frightening,
And you were lost.
Today you're not afraid,
So you see it in a different form.
I heard the carnival pipe organ playing,
And saw the lights flashing.
Above the entrance to the tent,
I saw the sign that said,
Hall of Mirrors.
I thought that this might not be so bad.
After all,
Mirrors can't really hurt you.
He took me to a tall mirror with an ornate frame made of gold.
Within the frame were a million masks reflecting various emotions.
It was like looking at a kaleidoscope of humanity.
The mirror was set at a slight angle toward the ceiling,
So I had to step in front of the mirror to see myself.
I laughed out loud at my reflection.
My head was huge.
My waist was small,
And my feet were huge.
I looked like a clown.
He smiled and said,
So you see,
This is an illusion.
I nodded,
Still laughing at my reflection.
Did he think I could be fooled by something so obvious?
He took me to another mirror.
This one was small and rectangular,
Set at eye level.
The frame was silver polished so that it practically glowed.
When I saw my face,
I gasped softly with delight.
My face looked angelic,
Soft,
Gentle,
And kind.
My eyes looked out with unending patience.
The silver frame looked like a halo.
I stared at my face in admiration.
Then he waved his hand and the image disappeared.
I looked at him questioningly,
Robbed of my prize.
This also is an illusion,
He said.
Look again.
I looked again,
And instead of the angelic face,
I saw a haughty one.
My nose lifted in pride.
My eyebrows raised in criticism,
And my eyes looking back at me full of self-righteousness.
The shining silver halo framing my face seemed obscene.
My heart broke.
I looked away,
Disgusted,
Embarrassed,
And ashamed.
Understand that even this is also an illusion,
He said as he stepped to my side.
The Hall of Mirrors is called the Valley of the Shadow of Death because your false selves die here.
Here is where you learn to see your true self.
Here is where you learn to be your true self.
For your false self,
This is the Valley of Death.
But you are not your false self.
For your true self,
This is only a shadow of death.
How then do I become who I wish to be?
When I try to become who I want to be,
I become the embodiment of what I most hate.
How is there hope for me?
How can I be saved from myself?
The natural way of thinking focuses on the results and hopes the process will figure itself out.
I focus on the process knowing the results are already mine anyway.
To become who you wish to be,
Stop focusing on who you wish to be and simply live as you are.
The challenge is in seeing who you are without judging who you are.
That's what the Hall of Mirrors produces.
The ability to see things as they are,
Not as you expect or imagine them to be.
You are neither good nor bad.
You simply are.
I looked back at the silver frame and saw yet a different face.
This one looked at me with questioning eyes,
Unsure.
My face no longer raised with pride.
My eyebrows no longer critical.
His face softened into a smile and he said,
There it is.
Do you see it?
For the first time I looked without expectation of what I should find,
Searching for some hidden detail.
See what?
Humility,
He said,
As he put his arm around my shoulder and looked at me through the mirror.
Before we close,
Let's pause a moment to reflect on the story.
Take a deep breath and settle into your own inner Hall of Mirrors.
See the mirrors in your mind,
Each reflecting a different facet of yourself.
Some may exaggerate your fears,
Others your hopes,
Some your pride,
Some your humility.
Let them appear without trying to change them.
Simply notice.
Ask yourself about the faces you carry.
Which reflections feel most familiar to you?
Which ones do you show the world and which remain hidden?
About your expectations and illusions.
Where in your life do you cling to ideas of who you should be?
And how does that affect your ability to see yourself clearly?
About presence over performance.
What happens when you release the need to fix or improve these faces?
And instead,
Simply see them.
And finally,
About humility and truth.
Can you feel the gentle humility of recognizing yourself without judgment?
Can you rest in that honesty for a moment?
Breathe deeply,
Letting these reflections come and go like clouds in the sky.
Notice the freedom in simply being aware without needing to act.
As you slowly return your awareness to the room,
Carry with you the quiet knowledge that you are more than any reflection,
More than any mask.
Your true self is present,
Steady,
And unafraid,
Even in the midst of mirrors and illusions.
Take one final deep breath.
Wiggle your fingers and toes.
When you're ready,
Open your eyes,
Bringing the calm and insight with you into your day.
