What do butterflies and Facebook have in common? Please give me a minute to explain… One day while working in the yard a butterfly lit upon me. Clung to me, really. I didn’t want to touch this butterfly because I didn’t want to hurt it, so I waited for it to fly away on its own. But it didn’t fly away. It just kept hanging onto me. Something was wrong with this beautiful insect. Butterflies aren’t supposed to cling to people.

Eventually one of my boys gently removed the butterfly from my arm. I told my son to be careful carrying this delicate little critter over to a flower. “Don’t rub the powder off its wings. If you remove the powder it will die.”

I don’t know if this is really true, but I’ve heard it all my life, “Rubbing a butterfly’s powder off will kill it.”

Okay, about Facebook…

Is anyone else struggling with Facebook these days? A week or two ago, I started really paying attention to how I felt after a jaunt on Facebook, and I realized I was bombarded by posts I didn’t want to touch because I didn’t want to kill or injure a friendship by rubbing someone the wrong way.

Many of us have become like powdery butterflies, so sensitive to anyone touching our ideas and beliefs, and lately my Facebook feed has been filled with real pain and suffering, anger and outrage, and the ranting and raging of very real people. I do my best to remember these aren’t just faces, these are real people with real feelings on Facebook. I ask myself would I say to a person’s face what I’m about to type into a comment box? If I wouldn’t say it in person, I don’t say it on Facebook. That’s my rule.

Several years ago, I found myself in the middle of a Facebook mess that left me upset for days. You know these messes, someone writes a post that starts a chain of comments that gets everyone riled up, and pretty soon it feels really personal and hurtful and you think, who are these Facebook people? Would they actually say this looking into my eyes? Would I say this if I could see their eyes?

I decided I needed to talk to these Facebook folks privately about this mess, so I did. Most people were wonderful once we spoke through messaging. The Facebook friends I actually knew, actually had a relationship with outside of Facebook, I went and looked into their eyes as I apologized for being a part of this mess. Since then, I’ve steered clear of posts that reek of messes but it’s getting harder and harder to steer clear on Facebook. I’m not on social media for messes. Or to add stress to my life. Or to worry about butterflies that land on me in the Facebook yard.

So why am I on Facebook and should I even stay on Facebook?

I can tell you why I joined Facebook years ago. My literary agent said that social media was a must for writers. It’s the same reason I became a blogger, my literary agent said it wasn’t an option, I had to blog.

Now that I’m an Indie writer, I no longer have a literary agent. I can do what I want when it comes to social media. The problem is I’m not sure what I should do about Facebook and I’ve become kind of addicted to it. There’s so many things I enjoy about Facebook. Adorable pictures of people’s children and grandchildren. Celebrating friends’ successes and achievements with them. Laughing with folks when they share funny stories. I really do love my Facebook family and friends, even the ones I don’t agree with politically. Crazy I know in this day and age. One thing I know for sure, our country is way too divided over politics and just about everything else as well.

When I was little, my mom was a Democrat and my dad a Republican. And believe it or not, they actually lived in the same house and stayed married even though they canceled out each other’s votes every election. Today Democrats and Republicans seem to hate each other and not a day goes by on Facebook I don’t see political posts involving a lot of upset people. I think I need to cut back on Facebook until this election year is over at least.

Is anyone else feeling this way about Facebook?

Yesterday at church, Pastor Doug talked about what you put into your mind goes down into your heart and then comes out of your mouth. A lot of things Facebook is putting into my mind I really don’t want to go into my heart. And I certainly don’t want this negative stuff to come out of my mouth.

Today I spent more time with my Bible and less time on Facebook. I hope I do this again tomorrow and the next day too. This morning, I read in my Bible, “I’m convinced I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13. Believe me, that was so much better than reading all the political gloom and doom posts or just trying to navigate around butterflies with powdery wings on Facebook.