WEBVTT

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The parable of the empty pockets. There once

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was a boy who lived in a town. He was a very

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poor boy and he only had clothes on his back.

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And he would walk through town and he would see

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all these people with much greater wealth than

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him. And he would look at all their possessions

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and their fancy horses and carts and clothes.

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and all he had was a shirt and a pair of pants

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with empty pockets. And he felt shame and he

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felt self -consciousness over these empty pockets

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as he looked around and saw those that had so

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much and he had so little. So he decided that

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he was gonna take control over this feeling.

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and he was gonna put rocks in his pockets. So

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he filled his pockets with rocks to make his

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pockets look full. And he stood with his chest

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out and his pants full of rocks and he walked

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through town and said, look at me, my pockets

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are full. I have all kinds of things. I am not

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poor. I am not the little boy with empty pockets.

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And... For a moment he felt good about himself.

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He felt like he wasn't that poor little boy with

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empty pockets. He had taken control and filled

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himself with things that made him feel absence

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of that feeling of poverty and poor. So he walked

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around the town with his pockets full of rocks

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and he, for a moment, felt different. He felt

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like he wasn't that... that poor boy with nothing

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but empty pockets. And then he realized he had

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filled himself with things that were of no use

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to him. He didn't have anything in his pockets

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that could really change the way he felt about

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himself. So he took the rocks out of his pockets

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and he went back to walking around town with

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empty pockets. And he decided that He wasn't

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going to fill those pockets with things that

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were useless. Instead, he was going to let God

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fill those pockets with things that would truly

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make him feel good about who he was and how he

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was. And he walked through town and he came upon

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an old lady and she was carrying her bags. She

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had some bags from the market and she was struggling.

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She had a cane and she was carrying these bags

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and he was a good -hearted boy, so he stopped.

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He took her bags and he carried them to her house

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and dropped them off in her house. And she was

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oh so grateful for what he did. And he walked

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away from that. And all of a sudden, he felt

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different about himself. And he checked his pockets,

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but there wasn't anything more in them than had

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been in them before. They were empty, but yet

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he felt good about himself in a way that he hadn't

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before. So he continued to walk through town.

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and he noticed as he walked through town that

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there was another young child who had lost his

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kite up in a tree that was not a big tree but

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it was taller than him and so he grabbed that

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kite out of the tree and he got it down for the

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small child and the small child was so thankful

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for that and just was so gracious and thanked

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him again and again for thank you for getting

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my kite I wanted to fly my kite and I couldn't

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and thank you so much and he he of course was

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happy to do it for that child and he walked and

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all of a sudden he felt a fullness in him again

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that he hadn't noticed before and as he carried

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on he realized that in the end his pockets didn't

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need to be full of money or possessions And his

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life didn't need to be full of these things that

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appear to make you look full and make your pockets

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look full. Instead, your life needs to be full

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of experiences where you are of service and you

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help another person and you do something to make

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the world better in some small way. And those

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are the things that you carry with you. And the

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best part is you carry them with you in your

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heart and you don't even need pockets in your

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pants to carry these experiences. you carry them

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with you in your heart and in your soul, and

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it makes the world a better place in a way that

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possessions cannot. Here ends the parable of

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the empty pockets.