A renowned social worker made a comment to this effect: “I work on the streets with the poor, and I do it because I’m a Christian. But I can work on the streets for years and never mention Christ’s name because I believe that God is mature enough that he doesn’t demand to be the center of our conscious attention all the time.” Fr. Rolheiser asks, “Does God demand to be the center of our conscious attention all the time?” He goes on to write that the First Commandment teaches that God is primary, always. This may never be ignored, but we also know that God is wise and trustworthy. Hence, we may safely deduce that God did not make us one way and then demand that we live in an entirely different way: that is, God did not make us with powerful proclivities that instinctually and habitually focus us on the things of this world and then demand that we give him the center of attention all the time. That would be a bad parent. God gave us a nature that is affectively wild and promiscuous. God expects us to be responsible as to how we act inside that nature, but given how we are made, the First Commandment may not be interpreted in such a way that we should feel guilty whenever God is not consciously or affectively number one in our lives. God doesn’t demand to be the center of our conscious attention all the time. God is not upset when our habitual focus is on our own lives, so long as we remain faithful and do not culpably neglect giving God that focus when it is called for. There are times when we are called to make God the conscious center of our attention; love and faith demand this. Like a good spouse, what God asks is fidelity. However, there will be times when, affectively and consciously, God will take fourth place in our lives – and God is mature and understanding enough to live with that.