If you stop for one second and do something, everyone is happy. You pay it forward and it comes back to you twelve-fold.
Mariska Hargitay
Standing in line at the cashier, I decided to pay with the cash I had on hand. The amount came to the exact dollar amount in my wallet, except it needed thirteen cents more. I rummaged through my handbag to cover the difference. The woman behind me said, “Hey, I’ll get it for you.”
Instead of accepting her offer, I searched frantically for the coins, only to remember that I keep my change in the car. She repeated gently, “I’ll get it.” I insisted that I would pay her back when we got outside. She simply replied, “Pay it forward.” Immediately I understood and promised I would.
I left the store, found the coins in my car, and was about to give her a quarter as she exited. Then I was reminded of her words about paying it forward. I took a deep breath, sighed, and drove away.
How many times has this happened to me? I genuinely like to give but am always hesitant to receive. As I coach my clients, I recognize it’s important to do both, give generously and also be willing to accept graciously in return. One friend once countered my reluctance by saying, “Don’t stop my blessings.“
A Spiritual Reflection
This moment in the checkout line mirrors our relationship with divine grace. How often do we frantically search for ways to earn, deserve, or repay what is freely offered? Like my frantic dig for coins, we sometimes exhaust ourselves trying to make ourselves worthy of love, forgiveness, or blessing that is already being extended.
The stranger’s simple “pay it forward” echoes the heart of spiritual truth, grace received is meant to flow through us, not be hoarded or returned to its source. We cannot repay infinite love with finite gestures, just as I couldn’t adequately repay thirteen cents of kindness with a quarter.
Scripture reminds us that we love because we were first loved, and we forgive because we have been forgiven. The woman who helped me became an instrument of grace, and my role was not to repay her but to become that same instrument for someone else.
When we resist receiving, whether from strangers or from the Divine, we often miss the deeper lesson about our interconnectedness. Every act of grace we accept with humility creates space for more grace to flow through us to others.
Perhaps the most profound spiritual practice is learning to receive with the same open heart we bring to giving. In that checkout line, God was teaching me through a stranger that grace is not earned but received, not hoarded but shared, not repaid but passed forward.
Today, allow yourself to receive the gifts being offered, both human and divine, with gratitude and trust.
GREENLiGHT 