From the Home Place

May 8, 2026

Greetings to each of you readers. I’m sorry, but yesterday’s note did not post correctly. For whatever reason it seems to have vanished into cyber space.

Today, I would like to share with you about a time in my younger years on the home ranch. By the time I was around 13 years of age I was expected to carry a large amount of the weight on the ranch. I could fix fence by myself. I could cut and bale hay by myself. I could rope and doctor cattle of all sizes by myself. I could fix windmills by myself. I could cook and sew and keep a fairly decent home by myself, including doing laundry and ironing my own clothes. I could start and finish colts by myself. In another words, as a teenager I could manage a ranch quite well by myself.

Because of my extremely introvert temperament, I actually preferred to pretty much live by myself although I shared a home with Dad, Mom and two sisters, all who liked to be around people. So, on most occasions when there would be a crowd of people around our outfit, I would saddle a colt and go check pastures if the weather allowed. If the weather was nasty, there was always work to be done inside a barn. Yet, if I had to, I could stay in the house and play cards with others, but being by myself sure enough didn’t bother me on most days.

Well, with one exception. As I have stated before, it was the practice of our family to go dancing most every Saturday night. We would all make a run through the bathtub, put on our “good” clothes, with boots polished and shined, load up in the ‘ol Chevy pickup and head for a community dancehall, usually somewhere within a couple of hours drive.

When we would reach our destination and get inside, Dad and Mom would dance the first dance together. Both of my sisters were pretty enough and social enough it wouldn’t be long before they too would be gathered up by some young cowpoke and off to the dance floor they would go.

As I’ve mentioned before, I was expected to dance with several of the ladies in the room before the night was over. But by the teenage stage of my life, I could usually get away with dancing with just a few of the other ladies there, allowing me to spend most of my evening dancing with one of the young gals that I knew.

You see, most other ranch families had the same habit as ours, Saturday night was made for dancing. So most everywhere we would go, there would be a young lady that I knew well, who was a good dancer, and who would carry 90% of the conversation. After all, a teenage boy dancing by himself just wasn’t allowed back then. So, for one night most weeks, I would fill my social calendar plumb to the top, allowing me to enjoy being by myself the rest of the week.

However, when Miss Deb entered the picture there was only one consistent dance partner on Saturday night. Why, she even taught me how to have a conversation that was longer than five words. Yep, Miss Deb did her best to “socialize” me. Yet, as they say, old habits die hard. That is until Jesus gets ahold of a feller’s life.

Today, I enjoy visiting with most anyone who crosses my tracks. In fact, there are days that Miss Deb just plain wishes that I would zip the lip and be quiet. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy my solitude, but I have learned to be social as well. You see my friends, it is rather difficult to share the story and the love of Jesus in solitude. If a person is going to follow Jesus’ example, you have got to learn how to be around other folks, talking and listening.

Speaking of listening, how well do you listen to the Holy Spirit. In today’s culture, our lives are so full of voices that it is often difficult to decide which ones to listen to. Yet, there is one voice that we should always be listening to. You see, the Holy Spirit usually won’t yell over all of those other voices in our lives; on the radio, television, internet, I Pods, and conversations, so we have to listen carefully to hear Him speak.

And that my friends, is where my past of being by myself is extremely helpful. As the old hymn states, we all need to take “time to be holy.” We need to learn to step away from all of the noise of this world and listen to the “still, quiet” voice of God. He speaks though your Bible, your prayers, your conversations with other believers and through your circumstances. That being said, it is a good practice to daily take time to examine each of the methods of conversation with the Holy Spirt.

Today, take a few minutes all by yourself, read a Psalm, pray about your circumstances and then just listen for Him to speak into your life. It is in the quietness of life that we learn to communicate the best! First, be a good listener, then you are ready to have meaningful conversations. You see, being by “myself” isn’t a bad thing at all. Being alone actually prepares us to be around others, while it teaches us how to listen to the Spirit’s voice.

Taking time for “myself” with you, Neal