Inner balance? It comes down to finding answers to two questions: Who am I? What am I here for? And what matters most is whom we turn to for these answers—a journey through youth services and beyond.
So there you are, sitting in front of the mirror, looking at yourself. And, in some ways, you like what you see. There are also things in there that you don’t like. And the longer you stare, the more the image begins to blur.
“What am I doing here in this world?” the face in the mirror asks. Who am I? What do I want to be? Where do I want my life to take me? And so you start looking around for answers.
Who really sees me?
Your parents, your family? They are not always much help, at least not right now. They don’t really know what it is like to be you—to be you in a world of expectations, vanity, aggression, and disaster scenarios.
Yes, but your friends are there. But some of them are their own best friends. Some don’t care about you. They just want your attention. They are not looking for friends, but for followers. And some only see you as a stepping stone, walking all over you to get ahead. Whom can I trust?
Loved, just as you are
And then … there is someone who sees you, the person you are deep down, exactly as you are. Someone who loves you. Just as you are. No matter how you happen to feel right now. No matter what you may have done.
Who am I? “Ask God,” advised the then Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider at the 2024 Youth Day on the island of Borkum. Because, he said, “God is truth and God is love.” “God is honest. God means well.” And God’s answer? “You, you are My beloved child. And no one can change that.”
A gift in God’s hands
“Do you know how beautiful you are in God’s eyes?” asked Helge Mutschler, the current Chief Apostle, on Pentecost 2025. “You are more precious than all the gold and treasures on earth. You are a somebody in the eyes of God.
And who exactly are you? Someone whom God has made only a little lower than Himself, as Psalm 8: 5–6 puts it. Someone whom God has endowed with dignity and strength.
“You are a gift,” says Kjara’s poetry slam at the 2023 Youth Day in Hamburg. “Because you carry heaven within you, you can move the world. You are a child of God with the wind at your back. You are no coincidence, you are a crystal in God’s hand.” – “You are a blessing.” – “You are a piece of the jigsaw in God’s work.”
Strong enough to fill your place
One thing is clear, “God believes in us,” said the then District Apostle Helper Mutschler on Borkum. “He believes in you, sister. He believes in you, brother. And when He says, ‘Be strong and courageous,’ then He knows for certain that you can do it. And He gives you the strength. And He gives you the courage.”
And suddenly the question becomes something entirely different: “Do you realise how important you are in your congregation, in your neighbourhood, at your school, at your workplace, at your place of training, at university, or college? Do you realise how important you are, how strong you are, and that you can do it?”
Photo: ORG – stock.adobe.com