Besides my aunt, some of my uncles and sometimes their wives lived with us at different times. Usually, the new residents came when someone was without a job or returning home from the armed services or recently married or divorced. Few questions were asked. The understanding in the family was that my mother and father would care for you until you could take care of yourself. Paying bills and providing food and a place to sleep for long intervals (sometimes months) for his siblings was not an unusual action for my father

And tying all of this together was my mother-cooking, cleaning. laughing, crying but most of all just loving. Parenting the entire family-not just her two children. Twined throughout it all was the love my parents showed to one another and the community.

My parents were in love with one another. It was a fact of life for me. I never questioned it. We never talked about it, and I didn’t realize the importance of the love between my parents until I was much older. Perhaps not even until I began to love a man myself.

A father can do more for his children by loving their mother than anything else he can do for them. A mother who loves and respects the father will give children a security that goes beyond financial circumstances. Love between parents does not just happen. Love is not always just an emotion. It is a choice. My parents chose to love each other and their extended family. Because of that, I learned love in my home. Love is sacrifice

Not only were they living for one another but for the extended family. It is this sacrifice that is so needed in our society today. Homelessness might be eradicated if we could only allow our families to be a part of our home and lives. Christ himself taught this very example when he asked John to watch over Mary.

“When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” John 19:26-27

1 Timothy 5:8 | NIV Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.