Brenden Foster

For those who are not aware of this young boy's story, 11 year old Brenden Foster, whose wish was to feed the homeless, died on Friday after a three year battle with leukemia. Mr. Nina made me aware of this young boy after seeing his story on CNN earlier this week. Today a portion of the interview was rebroadcast. What I heard was one of the most "get my attention" moments I believe I've ever had.

The interviewer was asking Brenden what made him the saddest.

Now most of us would think he would say something like "leaving behind my family" or "not being able to play baseball anymore". Nope.

What made Brenden the saddest?

When people give up.

Those four little words he spoke put me to my knees.

I mean my god, you know?

Later on, Mr. Nina and I spoke about this beautiful child. Mr. N said he felt insignificant compared to this boy.

I thought about that. I thought about how common it is to find ourselves feeling small when we're in the face of Love in all its power and possibility. And yet really, why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we let ourselves go to that place of smallness? Love is grand, isn't it? It is awesome and amazing. It's what will save us. It's truly all we have.

So please don't let yourself fall into the trap that a sense of humbleness is meant to keep you small and meek. You are Love. You are meant to SHINE and SHINE BRIGHTLY. Be Grand. Be Awesome. Be the Amazing being you are. And maybe, just maybe, we can create a world where children like Brenden Foster will no longer need to hold the wish to see the homeless fed.