Making do is an admirable and most practical skill that can at times mean the difference between survival and disaster. Many is the family that avoided starvation by discovering how to make do with whatever was at hand. Indeed, many gourmet dishes, sweetbreads for example, have their origins with impoverished peasants who found a way to convert disgusting throwaways into succulent morsels. In more instances than one could count, the habit of making do is a manifestation of both courage and character. It says to the world, “We will survive, we will not be destroyed.”
There are, however, limits to the virtues of making do. It can skew our perspective and cause us to settle for too little: Sometimes just surviving isn’t enough. Sometimes what appears to be survival isn’t that at all, but just a long, slow death. That’s what Jesus had in mind when He said that trying to put new wine into old wineskins doesn’t work.
There are times when we need to start afresh, and that is especially true when it comes to our inner lives. Simple patchwork, just holding things together, isn’t good enough. We need, as Jesus said, to be born again, not physically, but spiritually. For each of us that rebirth will take a somewhat different shape, because our personal histories are different. But in every case, the rebirth will involve a radical opening of our spirits to the Holy Spirit of God.
When it comes to what you’re really about, don’t settle for just making do. Open your heart to the Spirit and get a whole new life!