“For the despondent, every day brings trouble;

for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.” Proverbs 15:15 NLT

I thought of a childhood memory when I read “continual feast” in this scripture. Often

our favorite memories involve food or is that just me? Summertime for me as a child

meant a road trip to Mississippi to visit my paternal grandmother. We confidently knew

we would be greeted with something warm on the stove and a table filled with pies and

cakes. This would be every day of our visit. Her kitchen felt like a banquet that never

ended.

Proverbs 15:15 puts two drastically different lives side by side. This verse reminds us

that how we see life has a lot to do with what’s happening in our hearts.The New Living

Translation uses the word “despondent.” A despondent person is defined as someone

that often behaves as if their situation, or someone else, has total control of their story.

Despondency or discouragement can often look like an inward sigh that says “this is just

how things are” or “nothing will change”. This inward distress shows up in how a person

lives and speaks. Every day seems to be a “bad day.”

I thought about Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. A cloud seems to follow him around

while he says things like “oh well” and “it probably won’t work anyway.” Then, on the

flip side, there’s Tigger, who bounces into a room full of hope and energy, even if

nothing around him looks all that exciting. It’s the same Hundred Acre Wood. Same

weather. Same world. But Tigger has a totally different mindset and he’s wearing an

entirely different pair of lenses.

This verse is such a good reminder that joy is an inside job and so is hopelessness. It’s

like a crime show where the twist is that the thief was inside all along— someone

trusted, someone no one suspected. Sometimes the thing robbing our peace is our own

thoughts, fears, or expectations quietly convincing us that today is just one more

struggle.

So, what do you and I do when we realize the thing stealing our peace and joy might be

coming from inside? We let God into it. We let Him speak truth to those despondent

thoughts that say things like “nothing’s ever going to change”, “just another bad day”, or

“why expect anything different today?”.

Like David we self-reflect— “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?”. And

then we make a decision: “I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my

Savior and my God!” (Psalm 42:11)

It doesn’t mean everything around us will suddenly be perfect. But it does mean our

perspective can shift. We don’t have to live like every day is just one more thing tosurvive. With God, we can start to see hope again. And with a heart that has hope, even

the hard days begin to feel a little lighter and the table looks a little fuller.

I understand now why as a child my grandmother’s kitchen left such an impression on

me. It wasn’t just the food… it was what else was offered— it was the joy, the love, the

invitation. Her table was a reflection of her heart. God is still cooking up goodness, and

His daily invitation is to “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who

take refuge in him!” (Psalm 34:8)