After 17 years of being a parent, I think I know what I value most about my children: our relationship.

Sure, it’s nice when they score baskets or play beautiful music on the piano. I like it when they bring home good grades or write something profound for a school paper. And it’s rewarding when people comment how nice they look or act in public.

But what really keeps a tired dad going—after working all day, fixing a leaking sink, reading Green Eggs and Ham for the hundredth time, and helping with a grammar assignment—is a loving smile, a big hug, and four choice words: “I love you, Dad.”

If another day has passed and my kids have maintained a loving, caring, mutually admiring relationship with me, I’m a glad dad.

It’s something like what goes on between God and us. He wants us to work at keeping our relationship with Him strong—even more than He wants us to do anything else. That’s why it’s so sad to read about Solomon. He had it all. Yet he shut off the relationship with God by being disloyal to Him. He was a king with wisdom, power, and riches, but when he forsook God those things meant nothing.

What does God want most from you and me? A loving relationship.