Few of us want to appear dependent: witness the rugged determination of many older people to resist support to which they're entitled; and the intense frustration of some who've spent a lifetime caring for others who now find it painfully difficult to accept that they're the ones who must be cared for.The Christian faith, like others, commends the good life as one spent in loving service of God and of other people.But it makes clear that the willingness to receive is just as much a part of what it means to be truly human.We enter the world totally dependent, and however confident, self-contained we might become, we do so only in relationship with other human beings and with gifts which are exactly that - abilities, skills, which are first given. And we never outgrow our need to receive love, human and divine. But it can take both humility and courage to recognise it.
没什么人愿意显出依赖性，目睹过很多垂垂老者坚决不接受他们应得的帮助，有些一辈子都在照顾别人的人难以接受自己要被人照顾的事实。基督教信仰和其他一样，赞美虔诚伺主、关爱他人的人生。但也说明，能同时接受别人的给予也是真实人生的一部分。我们出生时完全无法独立，无论我们后来变得如何自信、自持，这都是在与他人接触中才会展现的，而且与之相关的能力、技巧一开始也是从别人那里得到的。我们永远都需要接受爱，同情和善意，但只有谦卑和勇气才能让我们醒悟到这一点。
