RELATIONSHIPS May 1, 2006 Issue

MY #1 RELATIONSHIP

JUDY HEDRICK

I FIND THE MORE I LOVE GOD, the better friend I am to others. Everything flows from my relationship to God, from loving Him above all else in my life. Christ Jesus said it this way: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all they strength: this is the first commandment" (Mark 12:30).

Keeping my relationship with God first is something I haven't always valued. I learned a significant lesson about this many years ago during my senior year in college when I fell in love with a fellow art student. He was attractive, attentive, enthusiastic, creative, adventurous—but, as I later found out, dishonest.

Some of our adventures during the three years we were together were good—working on art together, appreciating the beauty of the world, and helping friends. Some were not so good—drugs, sex, and infidelity. (One of the lies I later discovered was that my boyfriend had been married at the start of our relationship.)