• The realization, the conviction, that God is there.  After that, it is all very easy.
• A belief in the Good News - that Jesus won a victory over sin and death by his dying and rising for us.
• Dying to Self.
• Careful practice.

How is God there?  Or, "who am I connecting with?"  God made this whole world and gave life to each and every one of us who lives in it.  God made us with purpose - that we be happy with God forever.  So, we are not looking for or connecting with a God who is distant or indifferent.  Our God is passionately engaged in drawing us to the fulness of life we were created for.  We are seeking to find a God who loves us and is always seeking intimacy with us.  It is simple.  A sense of absence vanishes when I am open to a sense of presence.

Living in the Good News.
I can hardly go through a single day without encountering the reality of sin and death - in me and in the world around me.  One way to cope is to join in our culture's denial of the reality of sin and death.  Our faith gives us another way.  We have come to believe that Jesus is Lord, most especially where sin and death seem to prevail. We have come to believe that we can open our eyes and act fearlessly in the face of death.  We have come to believe we have nothing to fear.  We have come to believe that it is precisely in the places where we encounter the greatest darkness or brokeness or confusion that we will find God.  There we discover our Savior.  There we experience the Good News.  It is in those everyday places  - where we taste frailty, unreliability, emptiness - that we find God's love is most powerfully present.  Attentive faith finds the gift being offered in every human situation: a love and a peace the world can not give.

Less Self-absorbed.
When I don't fear death as much, I am less afraid of dying to myself.  It sounds so obvious.  When I'm absorbed with myself - my needs, how much attention I'm getting, doing things my way, everything in reference to me - it is pretty difficult to find God.  The "space" inside of me is pre-occupied.  However, as my openness to and hunger for a loving presence grows, I am de-selfished and freer.  Often my self-pity or self-focus comes out of a fear that I won't have "enough."  I fear any "emptiness" so I "fill" it quickly.  However, when I ask to be emptied, I discover an empowering fulness.  When I become more and more focused on how very much is being offered me in the loving presence of Jesus, discovered in every part of my day, I discover the power of Augustine's prayer:  "O Lord, Our God, you have created us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

Practice, Practice, Practice.
Practice makes the difference.  What did we ever "get good at" that didn't involve lots of practice?  Changing my patterns, my habits, my routines may be difficult, but I know that I am very resilient and quite resourceful when I really want something.  Choice is the key.  Making the choice to adopt some new patterns  allows it to happen.  God is always choosing to be with me, in any way, in any situation I will be open to.  The choice to get better at meeting God there is all mine.