Handing Out Grace

She was raggedy. Unkempt. Pleading.
"Will you trade me $17 of food stamps for $8? I really need to buy some cigarettes."
My skeptical self replied, "I don't feel comfortable."
She begged. Again.
Desperate.
All I could think of were those cigarettes.
"I don't feel comfortable," my higher-than-thou self responded. Again.
Disappointment etched her face. She turned to my son. That tall-after-God's-heart child.
"What about you?" she asked, desperately.
He reached. Right into his wallet. Pulled out this ocean-wide love. With a crisp twenty, he handed her grace and a smile. "Why don't you just let God bless you today?"
Tears dripping, she reached out with tremulous arms. "Can I have a hug?"
My son, the one with grace arms, wrapped tight. "God bless you Ma'am."
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' " Matthew 25:40 NIV
" He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me-- you failed to do it to me.' " Matthew 25:40 Message
She was the overlooked. The least one. Easy for me to ignore.
I failed to give to her. I was uncomfortable. I missed the opportunity to extend grace. To my God.