Martian Child

I just finished crying my eyes out over a movie that my husband and son both tolerated for the sake of their mother. I don't tend to frequent the theatre, as rarely anything invokes enough passion in me to actually go to the cinema. I rented this film today, but I'm so glad I did. Have any of you seen "Martian Child"?

I hate it when people give away the entire plot, so I won't, but this storyline touched me deeply. The idea of this little boy who didn't fit in to everyone's 'norm'. He wasn't like everyone else. He didn't do things like everyone else. He didn't talk like everyone else. His actions were critized. Judged. He was the target of ridicule. Cruelty. Mean kids. He was ostracized from activities. He wasn't accepted. He was "different". Yet, inside he was just a child longing to be loved. He wanted someone to hold him, believe in him, and find him.

It reminded me of another favourite movie, "August Rush". A similar tale of a young boy who desperately wanted to be 'found'. Music touches deep inner places of the soul. There were parts of this movie where I could barely breathe as it whispered so many unspoken cries of my heart. When the young boy played the music that was inside him, his entire face shone...when he was who he was created to be...his life was the most beautiful melody. Other people might find the movie boring...but it reached in and grabbed me. Wish I could remember all the lines. I was crying at the end...not because it has a sad ending...but crying for the longing to be 'found' like the little boy is found.

I've always been viewed as "different". Not in a weird way...but different. As a child of older parents who grew up in an era when girls always wore dresses, I was never allowed to wear slacks to school and I didn't own a pair of jeans until I was well into my teens. Not conforming to the "acceptable" dress code tends to automatically make you noticeable - and not in a good way. Add into the mix the fact that I didn't swear, I didn't smoke, I didn't drink, I didn't attend school dances, I went to church, I bowed my head in the cafeteria to ask a blessing every lunch hour, I actually did my homework, arrived at school on time, paid attention in class...and did I already mention I always wore dresses? I guess you'd have to assume I was asking for trouble.

Being different is not a good thing. All of us are suppose to be like the rest of us. "Don't make a scene". Look the part. Adapt to the role. Don't rock the boat. Conventional behavior. Similarity. Blend. Become. But, in all this sameness you actually grow to be invisible. You might look right or suitable in appearance, but you are only going through motions to satisfy everyone else. You cease to truly be.

Is it any wonder we have something inside us that calls for us to be distinct? God's Word tells us that we are a "peculiar people", 1 Peter 2:9. That doesn't mean we dress weird, but our action and character should be strange to this world. We are unique, special, out of the ordinary because we are not of this world. We are, if you will, "Martian children". This is not our home. One day we will no longer be strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints in the household of God, Ephesians 2:19.

Dennis, the little boy in "Martian Child" was diligent in watching and waiting for his father to return and take him home. My Father is going to return one day and take me home. Am I watching with the same enthusiasm and expectation? Do I long for His reappearing?

I'm glad my heart always has a "lost feeling" and an ache to be found. I am an alien in this life because I am not home yet. My citizenship is in heaven. Some days it's hard not fitting the mold and measuring up to everyone elses expectations, but that pain only deepens my desire for my eternal home.

In the movie, "Martian Child" a question is posed: "Why can't you just be who we want you to be?" Why? Because I am a one-of-a-kind, Designer Original, with specific gifts, talents, thoughts, dreams, passions, abilities and feelings and the God of the entire Universe wants me to enjoy who HE created me to be!

Enjoy the uniquenss of you today! Whatever crazy thing you do that is truly you, embrace it. God's smiling at you right now!