In the "City Slickers" movies, the ancient cowboy Curly tells the wannabe horsemen that they need to be concerned about "one thing." The character played by Billy Crystal keeps wondering what that "one thing" might be, hoping it holds the key to resolving his inner conflicts about his life.

Today's first reading begins with the Ten Commandments that Moses brought before the Israelites on their way to the Promised Land. Upon review, it would seem that really, there is "one thing" that is most important to God. It is the first commandment: "I, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me."

The rest of the commands fall into place pretty easily if we can keep the first one. If we make sure that the Lord is the only God we trust, the only source of happiness and security we turn to, we are unlikely to violate any of the other commandments. With our trust in God, it is doubtful we would kill, commit adultery, steal, lie or commit any of the other infractions listed by Moses.

Moses warns the people of Israel, "You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them."

At first blush, it may seem ludicrous to think that the Israelites or you and I would acknowledge any other God. But in reality, if I am honest with myself, there are a lot of things that compete with God for leadership in my life. I am inclined to trust things like money, appearance and social status to make me feel good about myself. Heck, these days, I am even ready to trust Congress, the California Legislature and/or the Federal Reserve to provide security and happiness through the stimulus package, state budget or bank bailout.

It is easy, for some reason, to think that other forces are more powerful than God. Perhaps it's because God is invisible and experiences like shrinking savings accounts, unemployment and foreclosures are all too apparent. The First Commandment is as relevant today is it was thousands of years ago. We are challenged once again today, on this third Sunday of Lent, to reflect on who or what we trust in our lives. In what do we place our hope for a secure and happy future?

We are called, in the end, to be concerned about "one thing." We are called to place our faith and our trust in God. Nothing else, after all, really has the power to control our lives. We may think that financial security, social success or our physical health and appearance can truly create inner peace and contentment. They cannot. Trying to turn such benign experiences into deities is to attempt to twist something natural into something supernatural.

The good news is that God wants to give us all that we need, to cherish us and protect us from harm. We are asked only to surrender to God's goodness and accept God's gracious care, and to let go of the other things we trust instead.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa. He may be reached at bptidings@yahoo.com.