During my second year of college, I was looking around for a place to live . One Sunday after church the preacher (牧师) told me to stay in his daughter’s room because his daughter was studying abroad for one year.
To be honest, I really didn’t want to stay with “the preacher’s family” I was 19 and on my own. But then be told me how much the rent would be — a very low figure that included one home – cooked meal a day. I thought about the offer and decided to move in.
At the end of the term I had planned to find other living arrangements, since the daughter was to return home. But they asked if I wanted to stay on another term, suggesting I share a room with their won. By this time I seemed to have been adopted into their family her —people became my people. I happily accepted the offer.
As I emptied the daughter’s bedroom, I thought it might be nice to have a little sister to look after. But when I later met my new sister, I realized that it might be more interesting than I first imagined.
We finally fell in love, married, and have looked after one another for many years. There have been times that life turned out more challenging than either of us could have known. But we have always been able to go forward largely because we knew that somebody deeply cared.
It isn’t about marriage…it’s about love . It’s about mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers and special friends who are as close as family. It’s about anybody who can say, “I’ll be around — you can depend on me. I’ll try to look after you and sometimes I will need you to look after me.”
Is there somebody you can depend on? And are others depending on you ? We travel the path of life best when there is somebody to look after, and when somebody is looking after us .

　　大学二年级时，我正四下寻找住处，某个星期天，做完礼拜，牧师让我住到他女儿的屋子里去，因为她正在国外进行为期一年的学习。

　　说实话，我真不想跟一个“牧师家庭”住在一起，那年我19岁，已经独立生活。不过后来，牧师告诉我需付多少租金——很小的一笔钱，每天还提供一顿饭，我考虑了一下，决定搬进他家住。

　　期末时，我本打算另寻住处，因为牧师的女儿要回来了，但他们问我是否愿意再住一个学期，（如果愿意）我可以和他们的儿子合住。这里我似乎已经和他们融为一体——他们的家人变成了我的亲人。我愉快地接受了他们的邀请。在我腾空他们女儿的房间时，我想，要是有个小妹妹让我照顾，也不错呀。但当我后来真见到这位新妹妹时，我发现这比我起初设想的要有趣得多。

　　我们最终相爱了，成家了，许多年来一直相互扶助。有时，生活的艰辛超出了我们任何一个人的想像，但我们总能够将它渡过，这很大程度上是因为我们知道，有人深深地关爱着对方。

　　这与婚姻无涉……这与爱情有关。这是因为有母亲、父亲、姐妹、兄弟，还有亲如一家的挚友良朋，他们会说：“我就在你身边——你可以依靠我。我会努力照顾你，有时我也会需要你的照顾。”

　　你有什么人可以依靠吗？有什么人以你为依靠吗？当我们照顾他人，同时也受他人照顾时，生命的旅程，我们将走得坦然。