Small Things Count

What is a Christian butterfly? 

Read Small Things Count! to find out and to discover

how you can become one.

Please browse through the pages of this website to see what Small Things Count is all about.  Meet the author, Jackie O’Donnell, on the About the Author page.  Go to About the Book to learn something about the book and discover the “We-Attitudes.”  On the Sample the Book page you can read some of what the book contains.  Want to know what people think about it?  Then check out the Readers’ Comments page (actual unsolicited comments from readers) and the Critical Reviews page (book critic reviews).   There’s even a  discussion guide for your study group–just copy it from the Study Guide page.  Lastly, click on Blog to leave a comment or dialog with me and others.

If you like what you see, you can order a FREE copy (just $5.00 S/H) by contacting the author at [email protected] or downloading it FREE at your favorite eBook provider (see details at https://smthingscount.com/my-free-ebooks).

I hope you enjoy Small Things Count–Simple Ways to Live Christ’s Love Each Day.  Let yourself laugh a little, cry a little, feel a bit of anger and even guilt as you recognize yourself.  Then put the ideas into practice and be part of building a better world.

Learn about peace by looking at history. Read about the wars that have scarred our souls in modern times, like the World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Ireland, Afghanistan, Bosnia. Make a list of the causes of each, both the official and actual ones. Of course, in all cases the causes boil down to one thing: denying the fact that we are all part of the human family.  However, note recurring themes–an ethnic group believing in their own superiority, people fighting for a certain piece of land, one group intent on keeping specific natural resources for themselves, yet another…. Well, you’ll see when you make your list.  Once you have this list, watch the news with an informed eye. When you see one of these causes poking its head out of the swamp of international politics, pray hard and write your lawmakers, insisting that they take action before it’s too late.

Today’s Thursday Thought is not just for gardeners. It’s also a way for us to look at people we encounter in our daily lives.

Growing up as a Kelly, then marrying an O’Donnell, my Irish roots sprout on St. Patrick’s Day. I’d like to pass on this Irish blessing to all of you, whether first-time, occasional, or frequent reader.

I’m a Star Trek fan, in good part because, unlike Star Wars, there was always a message, something to think about. I can hear Kirk and Spock’s voices in this conversation. It gives me a laugh and an enjoyable thought at the same time. Of course, I passed this on to all of my math-teacher friends…..

Hey, Spring-Breakers. Glad you’re having fun and letting off steam. I have a request for you, though. Please, when you come home, isolate for at least a week and wear a double mask whenever you’re around someone else, without fail for these next two weeks. Of course, stay 6′ away from ANYONE who comes close to you. Yes, wash your hands and take your temperature often, too.

Even if you tried to be cautious, many others on that beach, in that restaurant or bar, in the dancing crowd, were not.

So, celebrate life by being extra careful until you’re sure one of those others didn’t infect you, either to the point that you have symptoms or are just an unknowing carrier spreading the virus to your loved ones. It’s important to the family and friends you come home to. It’s vital to our whole country, which could see our progress turning deadly because of those unthinking, uncaring people you partied with. It could determine whether you go on another Spring break ever again.

Why use toxic, smelly, irritating chemicals when you can add beauty to your garden instead? Have problems with ants, spiders, mosquitos, fleas, ticks, flies, moths, and other insect-pests? Get rid of them and spruce up your yard (sight and smell) at the same time by planting things like rosemary, marigolds, peppermint, catnip, basil, and lavender. See chart below. See in Pictures–Plants that Keep Bugs Away

The nutcase who came up with that idea was Benjamin Franklin in 1784.  However, he was not being serious.  He presented his tongue-in-cheek ideas in a letter to the editor of Journal of Paris, citing benefits like saving millions of pounds of candle wax and proposing guards on candle shops so that people did not buy more than they should, plus police to keep people off the roads at night.

He said that people would come to learn that the day—and their activities–begins when the sun comes up.  To help the lazy ones fall into line, at sunrise cannons and church bells should resound.

If he was just joshing with us, how did Daylight Saving Time come to be taken seriously? It seems that the inventors of a new kind of oil lamp kept Franklin’s idea alive through correspondence with him. In  1907 a builder, William Willett, began promoting it (with time and a good amount of money).  He was serious, noting that this would make us healthier because we would have more daylight to exercise and recreate ourselves, which also meant making better use of parks and public lands. It would be especially helpful for people who sleep by open windows, as the sun would not interfere with their rest. 

Legislation was introduced in Parliament but ridiculed and defeated, then, despite opposition from farmers, passed in 1916, right after France did.  It led to much confusion, especially in Edinburgh at 1 PM, with the castle’s gun firing using Summer Time and the bell on Calton Hill using Greenwich Time.

The idea was taken up in the U.S. in 1916, in a post WWI attempt to save fuel that produced electricity.  It was made law in 1918, repealed the next year, became a local option, then was re-instituted by Roosevelt during WWII, went back to being optional in 1945-1966, came back with Nixon’s Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973.  The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (taking effect in 2007) made the duration longer, to what we have today. 

End of story?  Maybe not.  In that 2005 act Congress included their right to change back to the 1986 law (starting the time change in April) if what they had just enacted proves unpopular.

In other words, if you dislike Daylight Saving Time, wait awhile.  It’s as stable as the clouds that drift across the moon.

Saint Mother Teresa had a way of whittling matters down to simple common sense, as today’s Thursday Thought quote illustrates.

I discovered a fantastic program for vets.  It’s not exactly rehab–for  them, at least–but it has rehabilitative effects. Actually, it’s good  for them AND for the coral reefs, which is good for all of us.

It’s called Force Blue. “It’s a brand-new type of post-military program that would help former combat divers cope with their PTSD by refocusing their skills toward the mission of marine conservation,” according to the article The Earth’s coral reefs needed a savior. These retired veterans needed something to save.

Read about Force Blue–how it came about, what it does, and how it is saving the lives both of veterans and of endangered coral reefs.  It’s quite interesting.