A Jolly Old Soul

Nathaniel Cole was a king!

No, maybe he didn't have the rule of any certain country, or even a people, but he sure felt like a king, at least most of the time! You see, Nat's father had blessed him with a great inheritance & though this great inheritance did not necessarily entail what might be called tangibles, he had found Eternity in his soul, or spirit. While this Gift is, by itself of immeasureable worth, it also made itself manifest in his daily life, where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, as actions worthy of a king in the service of another, Greater King!

There was a time when men & women had been used to treating one another as mere petty thieves & murderers: it was common at this time for one to use another to vault him or herself into a relatively loftier position. Into this scene entered One through whose very Presence caused these petty thieves & murderers to make a complete turnaround, to repent of their former ways & to begin to see each other, not as launchpads or rugs, but as fellow souls, spiritual beings who, although maybe not on the same stage of the Journey, were nevertheless striving to walk the same Path, that towards a Oneness with the Creation, with Life itself!

The world to which this Savior was revealed was an ancient one; in fact, this world was so foreign to that in which Nat grew up, that many or most of his peers did not really understand the depth of what this One had truly accomplished! Though the Story of what He had done for this ancient world had been told & retold many times & in many different ways over the years since His Appearance, the import of what this One had rendered for that ancient, foreign world had not been fully realized, even in our hero's day. Although the Salvation this One had wrought was full & final in this world as well as that ancient one, there were many in this current world that did not yet understand the full significance & glorious implications of that Salvation for this world!

Such was the world in which Nathaniel lived! In the not-so-distant past, his world had suffered much sorrow at the hands of petty thieves & murderers, those who had failed to see, or had not yet come to the realization that all life was sacred, that men & women were not here to be used & abused for their own selfish purposes, but were rather to be symbiotically loved through the Spirit that inhabited them. The world to which the Savior first appeared, as told in this peculiar Story was not really all that dissimilar to this one; both worlds had those ( this one still does ) those who like to use & abuse their fellow men & women to advance their own careers, but both generated those enlightened ones who had that still, small voice inside them, the beginnings of Awareness that whispered to their spirit that Peace that is Beyond!

Men & women still use & abuse each other for personal aggrandizement, this is evident, but as more & more people, like Nathaniel, awake to their True Nature, to their True Potential, the Journeys of so many that had been once thought so different will be revealed as different steps in the same Path! Although there will always be those who will mistreat their fellows, because they have been so hardened to any good spiritual influence, many even that were previously thought to be too hard will, through the ministrations of men & women like Nathaniel & his wife, be softened to the point where they cannot but realize the glorious fact of their relationship with all living things!

Nat WAS a King! Though he would probably never experience many of what are called 'the finer things' of life, he had everything that mattered. His wife loved him & treated him like a king; he fathered a quiver-full of children who, like himself, were fully aware of their exalted position. The world in which they lived was fraught with danger, largely due to the fact that so many had not yet awakened & some others who would likely never awake, but it also offered a glorious world of opportunity, a wonderful world in which the Spirit of Life was revered, as it should be!

Nathaniel Cole, as many of us have been, had been blessed mightily by his gracious father! He was not recognized as a king by most of his peers, because for one thing, he surely didn't act like any in their experience. You see, like his Father, Nathaniel was not a King over many Subjects, but rather a King among Kings, a King of Kings, if you will. He did not Lord it over his fellows as many kings do & have done. He not only realized the sanctity of life & help it in His Healing Hands, He was that very Spirit of Life!

Charles Haddon Shank