Love and the Law of Attraction

Yesterday, Christians around the world celebrated Easter (though not yet for the Eastern Orthodox). As I walked with intentionality through Holy Week last week (mostly attending SSJE’s liturgies online), I found myself thinking a lot about Jesus’ love. As I seek now to live intentionally into the season of Eastertide, I’m thinking about the law of attraction.

I had a dream a couple months ago where I was giving everything away. I woke with this phrase in my mind: “Don’t give away your gold.” The idea has its roots in psychology (you can learn more here)—and for me, in this moment, it’s about not giving away what I really need for myself.

Many women my age in US culture were raised with the idea that love was about self-sacrifice, often in the name of Christianity. You were supposed to put others first (especially the men and children in your lives), serve them well, and not worry about your own wants or needs. Unfortunately, this often led to self-denigration, self-abandonment, and even self-harm when we somehow couldn’t measure up. I see this message and pattern resurfacing now amongst evangelical (and political) Christians, and it concerns me greatly.

So, I would like to say this about love. Yes, Jesus taught us to love our neighbors—as we love ourselves. We cannot do the one without the other. For me, the self-sacrificial love that society taught was more about giving away my gold than it was about truly loving my neighbors, or my family, as Jesus taught.

That’s where the law of attraction comes in. Some view this as new-age-y, but I believe I will engender more love in the community and amongst family and friends by living with love myself. The key is to live my love without giving it away! Paradoxical? Perhaps. Instead, I’m now thinking of love as something I project. Like my smile, it is something others see or sense, and they can respond in like manner.

I also believe that beaming love out to those around me will result in love returning to me in a similar fashion. The law of attraction teaches that we receive what we share, and I embrace that truth. Jesus loved broadly, and crowds of people followed him and showered him with love. Only those leaders who colluded with Rome for their own safety and security saw him as a threat.

Early Christianity spread because of the law of attraction. People saw others loving neighbors as they loved themselves, and they wanted that too. Everyone benefited. I invite you, in this Eastertide, to consider what you want to attract, and how you might go about doing it in a way that doesn’t cause you harm. How might you live that kind of love today?