I’d heard somewhere that I needed to watch this HBO film, but I can’t recall where I heard the recommendation. Nevertheless, the movie brought me to tears.

Why? It’s hard to say. But as I saw how this woman, Temple Grandin, who has high functioning autism, navigate her world, I didn’t feel so alone. I am not autistic, but I sometimes think in similar ways she does. I thought everyone thought graphically like she does, or literally, or with a different perspective. I’ve always felt a little oddball-like, a little too creative, a little too inept. But this movie showed me that I’m not alone.

I’m not saying I’m a genius with the way cows think or that I can create elaborate pulley-structures like she is. I’m not a genius. But I can identify with feeling different. Can you?

And yet it’s her very difference that changes the world. In the trailer for this movie (see below), the screen flashes, “Her gift to the world was being different.”

What if that is true for you? For me?

What if this gives us permission to be all ourselves, quirks aplenty?

I find it easy to share my heart and my journey. God wired me so. So I do. And sometimes I get interesting reactions. Others think I overshare (and sometimes I do). But that very vulnerability, my quirk, helps others to realize they’re not alone any more. God uses my unique gifting to free others. What a blessing!

I cried in this movie because I saw myself. And I viewed the wide, jaw-stopping beauty of humanity. Isn’t God amazing to create such different people with varying perspectives on the world? Isn’t our world a better place because of the variety?

If you have the chance, rent this movie. Think about how God has uniquely gifted you, and your friends, and your family. Rejoice in variety. And be all you.