| Memphis School of Servant Leadership |
| Contact Information: Phone: (901) 320-7005 E-Mail: memphisssl@gmail.com |
| Our Journeys, Our Stories: |
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| The Covenant Life by Evelyn I have always liked the idea of covenants. When I was growing up listening to the Genesis stories I loved the idea of God making covenants with Abraham and his descendents. This appealed to my imagination and creativity and reinforced how much God really cared for humankind. Later as an adult when I decided to make my life a covenant life, I felt that the disciplines called out to my higher self. And I wanted to live into this higher self. The self that God created me to be. The self that strives and struggles with the inward and outward journey of servant leadership. The inward journey has always felt more natural to me. I love silence, practice prayer and praise, and expanding my understanding through meditation. Reading, studying, and digesting books and other materials are my companions. I develop relationships with the authors and treat them as mentors. This part of the covenant life nurtures me. The study of scripture on the other hand pushes me more than it takes care of me. Yes, many times it brings me comfort or meaning or even excites me, but more often than not it leaves me confused and asking more questions than I am hearing answers. I often get frustrated with scripture, as much for what it doesn’t say as for what it does say … or my lack of understanding it. This makes for a very fruitful time of reflection. All in all, my covenant of the inward journey is like the water in a well that I know I can draw from at any time. It refreshes me. Now the outward journey stretches me beyond my comfort zone. It puts me in places where I am uncomfortable, unknowledgeable, vulnerable and just feeling out of place. Until I started going to Manna House I almost never had relationships with the marginalized. Oh I served them, fed them, clothed them, and gave them money, but I wasn’t in relationship with them. I wasn’t exactly lady bountiful swooping down to help the unfortunate, but I also wasn’t giving or receiving from my higher self. My covenant of the outward journey gives life and flesh and real humanness to the disciplines. It gives meaning to the sermon on the mount. It is dirty, smelly, risky, emotionally hard and spiritually life giving. I have to be very intentional about seeking out opportunities to stretch myself and then be open to give of myself through the power of God. The outward journey is my biggest struggle and I stumble all the time, but I try … or most of the time anyway. Lessons that I am learning about covenant life. • Balance of the two journeys is a dance. My heart’s desire is to one day forget the steps and dance by the rhythm. • Covenant life has nothing to do with pleasing God, myself or others. It has to do with understanding who God created me to be and then using my gifts to live into that life for the good of all. • Covenant life is teaching me how to deal with difficult life situations with grace and dignity. • Covenant life is life. |