Abraham Lincoln once said, “The problem with Internet quotes is that they are hard to verify.” So, you see, my friends, that the internet predates Al Gore by almost a century.
These are my silly thoughts this morning. Last night I posted a photo on Facebook with the caption: “Necessity is the mother of invention … When you need to be on oxygen but you have a great-grandson that needs a tractor ride.” The photo (see above) is a picture of my step-father, who has COPD and is on oxygen 24/7, taking my baby sister’s 10 month old grandson for a ride on his lawn tractor. In the photo you can see his oxygen hose trailing back to his oxygen tank on a small wagon being pulled behind the tractor by a piece of rope.
I was thinking about this when I started to write this morning and I wondered who originally said, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” So I googled it. The result is that I almost don’t want to quote anyone unless I have read the quote in their own hand. I think perhaps the application of the quote is that when a quote is necessary, someone will invent the origin!
The best I can figure out is that it probably originated from an adaptation of something from Plato (427-347 BC), though some ascribe it to Aesop (620-564 BC). Bottom line: I don’t really care who said it. It is no more or less true based on the origin of the saying. If it is true, it is true.
That brings me to two thoughts: one about the saying and one about the nature of truth.
The saying means that sometimes the best solutions come out of the greatest challenges. There are millions of useless inventions that never made it past someone’s bright idea. Yet, there are also inventions that have changed the world when someone figured out a solution to a real unmet need. And when that solution is motivated by love (as in the tractor ride), its power increases.
As I consider the nature of truth, I am reminded once again that truth is true no matter who says it. It could be spoken by a politician with whom I disagree about almost everything and for whom I have almost no respect. The mouthpiece does not minimize the truth. The converse is true as well. If my very best friend in the whole world speaks untruth, my personal feelings for my friend do not make the words true.
Truth is true no matter who says it. Click To Tweet
Truth originates in the One who said, “I am the truth.” (John 14:6) Our lives matter so much to Him that He wants us to be truth seekers, motivated by love to see opportunities around us.
Even if it requires an old piece of rope.
Question: What is love motivating you to “invent” today?
