Shepherds Creek
From his grandfather, Dad learned the art of catching trout on the Weber River in the Utah mountains, and passed it on to me in the Sierras, beginning on Shepherds Creek, just south of Independence in the Owens Valley. Featuring a narrow stream with a lot of brush and few trees, Shepherds doesn’t favor beginners, especially with the 9 ft. bamboo fly rod Dad wielded. Now, you can’t do the graceful cast of a fly with all the brush, but the length allowed a nice distance from the easily spooked wild trout. A soft underhanded flip could reach 15 ft.
Shepherds then had no campgrounds, just a wide spot next to the stream, 2/3 of the way up to the mountains, which kept the fishing pressure low. I learned to stalk the wild trout, to silently creep up, out of sight, to be cautious of casting a shadow. I do well. And although I rarely fish Shepherds now, on Father’s Day a year ago I stopped by to catch one in his honor. The pic shows the spot. Then in writing this, I noticed that once I learned on Shepherds, we rarely revisited Shepherds, hitting other streams. Why?
Looking back, I truly appreciate Dad’s wisdom teaching me to fish on one of the most difficult creeks around. I learned good habits. How to catch them when they didn’t want to be caught. How to entice them. How to present the bait in a natural manner. Skills that worked on any stream or river, anywhere. But if we’d started on the easier streams, I could have picked up sloppy skills that worked there, but not when fishing became difficult. Practice doesn’t necessarily make perfect—it merely perfects what we practice. A pretty canny man, my dad.
This principle transcends trout. Sometimes we wisely begin with the easier portions of a goal, and slowly progress. Many skills are built that way, and I get it. But if we typically pick just the low-lying fruit, we run the risk of missing a lot. After learning how to succeed on Shepherds, I built confidence in doing the easier tasks.
Sometimes, talk to people about Jesus that are most resistant, don’t ignore them. Sometimes, take on a ministry task that intimidates you. Sometimes, address a bad habit that you’ve thought might be imbedded in your nature and impossible to change. Sometimes, forgive that person who wounded you, even if they don’t acknowledge their wrong.
One benefit, sometimes it works and you’ll be surprised. Another, you build confidence. A third, you rely more on God. Sounds the attempt might bring some good results.
Kick Starting the Application
Has God been tickling your mind with something that seems beyond you, and the tickle continues? Might that be a nudge from the Holy Spirit? Have you tried an “impossible” task before, only to see it succeed? What impact did that have on you? What difficult attempt might you begin this week?