The Tree of Life

I had an illustration appear in my mind today, as a result of several books I'm reading including Stephen Covey's Seven Habits and Breaking Free. Also, I heard a sermon about Adam and Eve just the other day. Let's call this the Tree of Life.
At the bottom are roots, in God, because he created everything and all we do is use it. Breaking Free posits that sex is such a strong snare and negative influence on our lives because God created it,  designed it to keep marriages together, fulfill us as much as any human relationship can and to perpetuate our families. Our roots are needs built by God, needs for relationship with him and with good, godly people.
But between the roots and fruits is a trunk: free will. Between our influences and our reactions is our choice of how to respond, as Covey says, our free will, the trunk for this tree.
Now even though Man was begun with the best intentions and such great capabilities, part of our tree is diseased. From Adam and Eve, we all inherit the sin nature that Satan introduced in the Garden. There is a black part of each trunk which is producing bad fruit in our lives. It feels natural because it's always been there. It feels good because it's based on those root needs God created.
That's why we need constant gardening from Jesus, because he can see us inside and out. He can heal these trees in a way no tree can heal itself.

Hello; A thought on putting God first in your marriage

These are thoughts from a Tuff Guy who grew up on the mountain in Fallbrook. I have learned a lot, but still have much to learn, especially about God. As He shows me things that seem profound, I'll post some here.
Today, thinking in the middle of a worship song as I often do, I wrote down some questions for my mentor. I haven't settled on one yet, but am seeking counsel from several good Christian men in my circle. I should have done it younger, but didn't know enough or hadn't had enough prodding inside to do so.
One of the questions, one which gave my friend Gordie pause, was "How do you put God before your spouse?" I had read a fairly good, Christian post on how marriage lights your impurities on fire. I definitely believe this, and it's attested in the Sexy Christians book.
I didn't find an answer to that question, per se, but an answer came to me for "Why put God before your spouse": Because we cannot live without love for a second and our spouse can't always provide it. Jesus CAN. And we don't have the strength to even come close to meeting our spouse's needs without God's support. So, even when we can't draw close to out spouse, especially then, we need to draw close to Jesus.
A couple great visualizations are in the book Breaking Free by Russell Willingham. One, from Zephaniah 3:17 and Isaiah 66:13, is that Jesus loves us like a mother singing her child to sleep. Another offered is Jesus as our best friend, who is always ready beside the hearth.
If your relationship with your spouse is at the expense of our relationship with God, especially through Jesus, your marriage will fail like so many. If you don't put God first, if you don't let Jesus meet your needs, they won't be met. You can't do it, nor can your spouse, nor can your job, nor can your ministry, nor any combination of those. Only Jesus can.
Now, I'm ready to just pray. I want to put Jesus first, and conceptually I can see "How" but it will take a long time to teach my heart, I think.
Lord God, Jesus, please help me learn to let you meet me needs, so that I can be so much more for all the people who need me. Amen.