We can and will - because He promises us we will find Him, if we keep our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts open and aware - everywhere we go, every situation we're in.
That's both harder and easier than it sounds. Harder because we're often so wrapped up in ourselves and our concerns that we're not aware of the numerous ways God waits to grace us. Easier, because He's persistent! And never gives up on us!
I might be too preoccupied to think of God. And then an unexpected hug from an exuberant teen illuminates my heart with God's joy. I might be anxious. And a smile and wave from an eighty year old parishioner in a neighboring Church pew reminds me that God is always On the Job.
A friend told me today of missing his dead wife one Easter, then unexpectedly finding biscuits and gravy on a restaurant menu, a dish she'd often made for him that he missed too. Smelling and eating biscuits and gravy that Easter morning, he knew his wife was near to him and God was reminding him that we will live forever in His Presence.
Even His creatures are His messengers. I remember being in front of my house two years ago, in the Summer, shortly after my son had died. A neighbor, father of one of Pete's boyhood friends, walked by with his dog, a dog my son had grown up around. The dog passed me, stopped, turned around, straining against his leash, gazing at me with the most soulful, pitying eyes I've ever seen. As he and his master walked, he kept turning around, gazing into my eyes, body leaning toward me as if he wanted to come to me. I swear I experienced God's love and compassion transmitted through the soul of His dog.
Years ago, my husband and I visited friends Deacon Dave and his wife Brenda in Denver, and trekked around the Rocky Mountains. God's grandeur seeped into my soul. I was awed by the Power and Beauty of the One Who created such gorgeous immensity. And we heard a lone bagpiper, dwarfed by the peaks around him, making soulful music that echoed and re-echoed off the surrounding peaks like the praise songs of angels.
Lately I sat beside my mother's wheelchair in silent pain - as I always sit in pain when I see how cruel dementia is - and one of the nurses passing me stopped unexpectedly to share Jesus and trust in God's Will with me. Once again I saw the never-failing Presence of God in her beautiful eyes.
Sometimes, I gently touch my newly-blooming cactus or orchid or touch the rough bark of a tree I walk past, and I swear they murmur to me in voices too soft to hear, reminding me that we are brothers and sisters, born of the same Father. And, touching them I feel healing and peace.
God knows who we are. We are hard-wired to experience Him, in ways unique to us and our journey. As Psalm 25 says "Every path He guides us on is fragrant with His loving-kindness and His truth."