We are offering a series of fifteen posts on living out the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy in motherhood.

Today is our fifth in a series of fifteen posts and focuses on the inherent mercy of motherhood, Shelter the Homeless.

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shade of the Almighty, Say to the Lord, “My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.” He will rescue you from the fowler’s snare, from the destroying plague, He will shelter you with his pinions, and under his wings you may take refuge; his faithfulness is a protecting shield (Psalm 91:1-4).

Sheltering your children is so natural you may have never thought about it, but when you shelter your children you are living out an act of mercy. You provide a safe and warm place where they can encounter the love and mercy of Christ. You shelter them in a practical way by protecting them from the elements, giving them a room, a warm bed, running water, and a sense of ownership of all those things. When you require your children to do chores, you are teaching them to be stewards of the home you have provided, and again you are acting out of mercy because you are teaching them gratitude and appreciation for what it means to be sheltered.

But in God’s exquisite goodness your call to shelter them goes beyond the practical, and when you cultivate your domestic church, you shelter them from the world and become a reflection of the only true shelter: the Lord. Scripture is brimming with verses naming God as our shelter, our rock, our home, and a safe place where we can take refuge. Once again, your act of mercy and love that shelters your children in a practical way, leads them closer to the Author of Life and their one true refuge in time of trouble. You provide a safe place to form them, and you allow them to encounter the profound love and mercy of Christ first, before they are unleashed on the world to change it. Every mortgage or rent payment, every home repair, every tax paid, every coat of paint is an act of mercy and provision.