Marin and David were sitting in a hospital room for his chemo infusion when their home security camera suddenly pinged. They pulled up the live feed expecting to see a delivery driver or a stray cat. Instead, they found a middle school girl sitting in the dirt at the very edge of their driveway as traffic zoomed dangerously close. They had every excuse to just close the app and focus on their own heavy battle, but they decided to go the extra mile for that one young girl.
“We were in the hospital early September for David’s chemo infusion,” Marin explained. “We opened up the camera and there was this child sitting looked like a middle schooler. Cars were just zooming by and we’re like well that’s not safe!”
The girl was just following her bus driver’s instructions on where to wait, but sitting so close to a busy road was a huge risk. Most of us would have swiped that camera notification away to focus on the hospital monitors. They saw a kid in a dangerous spot and decided to do something about it.
David had a simple but brilliant idea to get a bench and set it back from the busy road. They ordered one on Amazon right from the hospital. They got home Friday and by Saturday they had put the bench together to give her a safe spot.
The middle school girl had actually been nervous about waiting at the edge of their driveway. She said she worried an older person would come out and yell at her to get off the lawn. When they first saw the new wooden seat, her dad assumed it just belonged to the homeowners and told her not to sit on it. But that quickly changed when they noticed the small bus stop sign Marin and David had placed right next to the bench.
“I was literally jumping with joy,” the girl shared. “I got a bench, I got a bench, I got a bench, specifically for the school bus stop.”
That small act of kindness in the neighborhood sparked a beautiful friendship. The girl left a thank-you note on their door. Marin found it and immediately FaceTimed David, who was back in the hospital. He told her they needed to write back. Soon they were exchanging notes, potato chips and flowers. The couple even added a little free library next to the bench for her. The girl asked her mom to pull over just so she could look at it and was jumping up and down with excitement. They became known to each other as “Buskid” and “The Bench People.”
“Having my own little bus stop helped me feel seen and made me look forward to going on the bus every day,” the girl said.
One afternoon Marin went outside and talked to the girl’s dad for a few minutes before the bus arrived. When the girl stepped off the bus, she told Marin it was so great to finally meet her. She looked like she wanted to give her the biggest hug. The girl said she hopes to use that bench until she graduates. The story inspired so many people online that Marin and David even decided to publish a children’s book about it. As the girl perfectly summed it up, “Just a little bit of kindness can go a long way.”
Marin and David were going through a difficult season. David was in the middle of cancer treatment, and their days were filled with hospital visits. Yet they didn’t wait for their own situation to get better before showing kindness to a stranger.
The Bible says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,’ when you have it with you.” (Proverbs 3:27-28, NKJV)
Sometimes we can see that someone needs help, but we wait for them to ask. Or we tell ourselves we’ll help once things settle down in our own lives. But as children of God, we are called to have a heart that feels the pain of others, a heart that won’t rest until we’ve done something about it.
Do not wait until everything in your life is perfect to show kindness to somebody else. Do it today. God knows what you’re going through, and He will never stay in debt to anyone who shows kindness. As the Bible says, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9, NKJV)
WATCH: Couple’s Act of Kindness to Young Girl Touches Millions
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