One of my greatest pleasures these days is receiving mail.

Every morning, I look forward to opening my computer and checking my e-mail accounts. While I’m asleep in the U.S., people in the Philippines are wide awake. On a good day, I usually have a couple of emails from my friends and family waiting in my inbox in the morning.

I also recently discovered the joy of having my own mailbox. The U.S. postal service is pretty great compared to the service we have back home in the Philippines, so our mailboxes can see a lot of action throughout the week. Call me crazy, but I love opening my mailbox and seeing something in it. Seeing an envelope or a package with my name on it gives me a thrill–although maybe not if it’s a bill! (Hey, that rhymes!)

As I was thinking about this the other day, I wondered why receiving mail was such a big deal for me. I figured that I like receiving mail because it makes me feel connected, and if it’s a card or letter from someone I know, it makes me happy to know I was remembered.

Then I couldn’t help but smile when this thought crossed my head: this must be the same way God feels about hearing from us!

Every day, at every moment, we have a chance to connect with God. We can talk to Him before our day begins, we can talk to Him throughout the day, and we can talk to Him before we go to sleep. I think He loves hearing from us in the same way that I love receiving mail. I think He waits for it. I think He loves it when we connect with Him.

There are a lot of pre-written and meaty prayers out there, but I think some of the best ones are the ones that come from the heart–the ones where we tell Him everything that’s running through our minds, and the ones where we share our joys and pains with Him. I’m thankful that God doesn’t grade us on our prayers and He doesn’t put us on a waiting list because our prayers aren’t poetic enough. I don’t think God is a fan of sanitized prayers; I think He’d rather hear everything we have to say.

A couple of weeks ago, my brother and his family came to visit, and before they left, my nephews wrote this note for me:

It’s one of the sweetest letters I’ve ever received. When you examine it closely, the penmanship on this letter is messy, the grammar is wrong, and there are extra commas, letters, and lines all over the place. But every time I see this note, I barely even notice all of these things because my eyes are always drawn to the heart. You just can’t miss the heart…it’s what made the letter extra-special.

Have you shared your heart with God lately?