Perch before You Fly

Season: Walking in Wisdom | Topics: Young Women

Claire Black: Welcome to True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. I’m Claire Black. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us, one drive at a time. Buckle up! You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus.

Song:

I am a true girl.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
I am, I am, I am a true girl!

Claire: This season on the True Girl podcast, we’re talking about something more valuable than gold, more important than popularity, and more helpful than being smart. We’re talking about wisdom.

The Bible says wisdom is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with it. That means wisdom is more important than being the best athlete, the smartest student, or the most popular girl at school.

Dannah Gresh and Suzy Weibel are going to help us learn how …

Song:

I am a true girl.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
I am, I am, I am a true girl!

Dannah Gresh and Suzy Weibel are going to help us learn how to become wise girls by spending time in God’s Word and learning from the book of Proverbs. They’re deep in the woods of Pennsylvania to find a picture of wisdom in an animal you don’t get to see very often!

So, let’s get started with episode 1 called, “Perch before You Fly.” Here’s Dannah.

Dannah Gresh: Oh, this is perfect! This log here is going to a front row seat to the extravagant show of Rothrock Forest’s night life . . . but we have to be quiet.

Suzy Weibel: Quiet!?

Dannah: Shhh.

Suzy: It’s making more and more sense why our furry companions didn’t make the invite list.

Dannah: Exactly. That was a very intentional decision.

Suzy: And they were very offended.

Dannah: I’m sure they were. But if Moose were here, he would not be sitting quietly on this log. He would be running through the woods, stepping on every stick he could find, chasing something, and scaring away every woodland creature within a five-mile radius.

Suzy: That is absolutely true. Moose believes the woods are for running, not for sitting.

Dannah: And your Berners believe the woods are for exploring, sniffing—oh, those sniffers of theirs!—and general excitement.

Suzy: Yeah, quiet observation is not really their strength.

Dannah: Which is why today it is just you and me . . . sitting very still . . . waiting for our guest of honor.

Suzy: I thought you promised me an adventure, Dannah! Sitting and listening is not very adventurous!

Dannah: Probably not. But it might be as exciting as an adventure . . . and we just might learn something along the way.

Suzy: Not sure I see what sitting with minimal noise and even less light in the middle of the woods is going to teach us, but I’ve known you long enough to know you always have a tr—

(Owl hooting)

Suzy: (Gasps) I think I may have just heard your guest of honor!

Dannah: (chuckling) Exactly! We finally heard our friend, the Great Horned Owl!

Suzy: Wow! That sound always sends chills down my spine!

Dannah: Me, too. While I can’t see him, his hoot is a reminder of a pretty incredible. He's a great creature teacher, Suzy .

Owls are incredible hunters with great big eyes to see through the night and ears that can detect sound from up to a mile away!

Suzy: And owls are great at one thing that Moose and Sherman have not quite mastered yet—sitting still

Dannah: That's right. They perch! They land on a branch or something, and well, they perch . . . and listen . . . and watch.

Owls don’t rush around like other birds. They don’t flap everywhere all day long.

Owls sit.

They listen.

They watch.

And then when they finally move, they move at exactly the right time in exactly the right direction.

Suzy: So what you’re saying is, owls don’t panic or act without thinking. They don't react. They wait, think, and then act accordingly.

Dannah: That’s right! They can teach us a thing or two about wisdom. I don’t know about you, but I tend to just rush through my days.

I talk before I think.

I decide before I pray.

I react before I listen.

But when we’re walking in wisdom, we learn to do it differently—we learn to perch first.

Suzy: I like that. Wisdom means to perch before you fly.

Dannah, I have a question for you. If you had to choose between being the smartest person in the world or the wisest person in the world, which would you choose?

Dannah: Oh, that’s a good question! As tempting as it would be to be the smartest person in the world, I think I would choose to be the wisest.

Suzy: Me, too! And I’ve learned that being smart and being wise are not the same thing.

Dannah: That's right. You can build a LEGO castle without instructions, win the spelling bee every time, and can explain how volcanoes work . . . and still make really bad decisions.

Suzy: You can be smart enough to build a robot and memorize all the state capitals . . . and still hurt people with your words.

Dannah: You can be smart enough to get straight A’s, and beat your parents at every board games . . . and still choose the wrong friends.

Suzy: Knowledge is knowing a lot—being smart. Wisdom is making wise choices—being discerning. You can have all the brains in the world and still disobey God.

Dannah: That's right, Suzy. We get smart at school and by reading books and by doing things, experiencing things. How do we get wisdom?

Suzy: Oh, I’m thinking about a Bible verse, Dannah. Let me pull out my pocket Bible.

Oh, hey, Jelly Bellys! The good kind. Here, open those while I find this verse.

Dannah: You and that endless pocket of yours!

(Wrapper opening; pages turning)

Suzy: Here we go. Proverbs 9:10 says:

Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.

Dannah: So, wisdom comes from fearing God.

Suzy: And not like that “AHH! There’s a spider!” fear. It’s more like, “Umm, I don’t think my good Father wants me watching this movie!” fear.

Dannah: It’s more like respectful fear than scary fear.

Suzy: And we get it from knowledge of the Holy One. Or . . . getting to know God by reading our Bibles or praying.

Dannah: Exactly, and I want to be the kind of person that trusts God’s wisdom enough to obey Him . . . even when I want to do something else.

Wisdom is knowing what God says and choosing to do it.

I’m going to say that again. Don't you think this is important?

Suzy: Yeah.

Dannah: Wisdom is knowing what God says and choosing to do it.

Suzy: Wisdom is not just knowing the right thing. Wisdom is actually doing the right thing.

Dannah: You can know the right thing, but if you don't do it, you’re not acting wisely.

Suzy: There is someone in the Bible who is known as the wisest man who ever lived.

Dannah: That’s right, King Solomon.

Suzy: And the reason Solomon became so wise is really amazing.

When Solomon first became king, God came to him and said something incredible. God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Can you imagine that? God telling you that you could ask for anything!?

Dannah: I think most people would ask for money. Or a big house. Or popularity. Or success.

Personally, I would ask for enough money to never have to worry about paying for the True Girl ministry. I'd ask for a full-time caretaker on my farm so I never had to muck poo again. Oh . . . and a baby horse—that would be the most good fun! And for my old dog Moose to never die!

Suzy: I think I'd steal that wish.

Dannah: What would you ask for?

Suzy: I have an exact house I would wish for. I'd love to have a nice house completely updated with a gas cooktop on two acres of land with an outbuilding that's both heated and cooled where I can work with my dogs and have an office. But, Dannah, Solomon didn’t ask for any of those kinds of things—nothing like that. In 1 Kings 3, Solomon said:

“Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”

Dannah: Solomon asked for wisdom! And God was so pleased with that answer! So pleased that He gave Solomon wisdom and riches and honor. But the most important thing Solomon received was wisdom.

Suzy: Solomon wrote many of the Proverbs in the Bible—the book we’re going to be learning from this whole season.

Dannah: That’s right!

I like to learn from his wisdom. Afterall, it was inspired by God. God instructed Solomon what to write, so it’s the best of all wisdom.

Suzy, I like to read one chapter of Proverbs every day of the month. There are thirty-one, so most months it works out that I read all of them. But over the years, I feel like it’s helped me know what God wants and to fear Him.

Suzy: That’s the beginning of wisdom! What else has reading it every day done for you?

Dannah: Ya know, I think it’s helped me perch before I fly!

Suzy: Like how?

Dannah: Well, for example, I can be really quick to get angry when I’m in a heated conversation, but Solomon wrote that “a gentle answer turns away anger.” So now, when I’m feeling angry in a conversation, I take a deep breath . . . count to ten . . .

Suzy: (in machine-like voice) 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . . perching mode activated!

Dannah: . . . and then I try to say what I’m feeling in a gentle way.

Suzy: Does it work?

Dannah: Every time.

Suzy: Wisdom works! It works for us.

And wisdom isn’t just something King Solomon and adults need. The truth is, True Girl, you need wisdom right now.

Because every single day you are making decisions like:

How to talk to your parents
Who your friends will be
What you will listen to
Whether you will be kind
Whether you will obey God

Every one of those decisions can be either wise or foolish.

Dannah: So with every one of those decisions, you are practicing how to become more wise or more foolish.

The book of Proverbs talks a lot about what it looks like to be wise and foolish. It shows us that wisdom is doing things like listening, working hard, obeying God, being humble, and choosing good friends. And foolish things look like not listening, disobeying God, being proud and lazy, lying and gossiping.

(Owl hooting)

Suzy: Let’s go back to the owls for a minute.

We’ve been sitting here for a while listening to them, and we’ve been talking about how owls sit still and listen before they move. I think that might be one of the biggest lessons we can learn about wisdom.

Dannah: I agree. A True Girl who walks in wisdom doesn’t rush into decisions. She doesn’t just do what everyone else is doing or react when she gets mad or upset.

She perches first.

She sits in God’s presence.

She listens to His Word.

She prays.

She asks for advice.

She thinks before she speaks or reacts.

And THEN she moves.

Suzy: I love that idea! When you are walking in wisdom, you perch before you fly.

Can you imagine how different our evening would have gone if our cuddly canines were in attendance?

Dannah: (chuckles) Oh, absolutely. If they were here, there would be no quiet and no owls.

Suzy: There would just be running, barking, and someone jumping in a creek or finding something mysterious and rolling in it!

Dannah: Especially Moose. Moose would absolutely find something extra stinky . . . and then he would come sit very close to us so we could appreciate it with him. (laughter)

Suzy: Stinky or not, I’m starting to wish they were here. It’s getting pretty dark out here.

Dannah: You’re not wrong, Suzy. I always feel safer with Mr. Moose by my side!

Suzy: This feels like the moment in every movie where the characters realize they should have brought a flashlight.

Dannah: Oh, believe me, we did bring a flashlight. Let me get it.

Suzy: Oh good, because I was about to make a beeline for the car!

Dannah: I did promise you this would be a great adventure.

Suzy: Yeah, but I thought you meant a daytime, active adventure.

Dannah: (laughter) But, my friend, owls are not daytime creatures.

Suzy: And they’re not active. They’re perchers! Okay, let's make a deal. Next time we should avoid adventures involving nocturnal critters.

Claire: Wisdom is knowing what God says and choosing to do it. And you can grow in it.

Just like owls sit still, listen, watch, and then move at the right time, True Girl, be like an owl. Perch before you fly. Spend time with God, listen to His Word, pray, ask for advice, and then make wise choices.

Something that could help is reading a chapter in Proverbs every day, just like Dannah said she does! There are thirty-one chapters in Proverbs, and most months have thirty or thirty-one days.

Another way to get into God’s Word is to practice the habit of daily devos! Just a few short minutes each day can help build your understanding of who God is. And at True Girl, we’ve written daily devotionals just for you. They’re available in the True Girl subscription box, which we ship every sixty days.

Right now we’re sending the Obedience Box. It teaches you what it looks like to obey God, your parents, and other authorities in your life. It’s also got an activity idea for you to do with your mom, stickers, and a whole lot of other fun things! Subscribe today at MyTrueGirl.com.

Next time, Dannah and Suzy will talk about something that can make you wise or foolish faster than almost anything else. Come back to find out what that is!

Song: