10th Anniversary Celebration

April 29, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click the player above to stream Peace as your background music. If you enjoy, consider supporting through iTunes, Amazon, or stantonlanier.com (where sheet music is also available).

Peace was inspired in 2004, the year Music to Light the World was founded. That year my wife and I, and a support team around us, took a big leap of faith. Music to Light the World is a non-profit ministry with a mission to be a leading instrument for God’s peace, rest, hope and healing in the church, the cultural arts, and the lives of cancer patients. As we prepare for a 10th Anniversary Gala this fall, I wanted to share the 2014 Vision and Mission poster below. Please take a moment to be inspired by the stories and impact that God has made possible.

I invite you to play a role in the story as we launch into the next ten years. Peace was the foundation for Music to Light the World’s Get Music Give Hope program, where generous donors and supporting customers help one CD be given away for every one purchased. Over 50,000 CDs have been donated to cancer patients and their families around the world so far, touching 500,000 lives as relatives, friends, and caregivers hear the music. Our dream is to give away 1 million CDs and MP3 Albums by 2024 to cancer patients and others in need, touching 10 million lives with a message of hope and healing.

Has the melody Peace or Music to Light the World touched your life in a special way?

The Quest – Taking Flight

April 25, 2014 By Stanton Lanier 2 Comments

Click above to listen to The Quest from album Unveiled. If you enjoy the music, please consider supporting by visiting stantonlanier.com, iTunes, or Amazon.

Are you on a quest to take flight with your dreams?

Recently my wife and I had the privilege of watching a female cardinal build her nest in a dogwood tree right outside our bedroom window (see the photo below). Soon there were three eggs, then three baby birds. We learned the male and female work together from nest building to feeding the baby cardinals, which stay in the nest for about 10 days after hatching. One by one the babies were soon gone, strong enough to fly on their own. The total time it took from when the mother cardinals laid the eggs until the babies flew away was about 4 weeks.

Wouldn’t it be nice if “taking flight” were such a natural progression for us in living out our dreams, calling and life purpose? The Quest is a piano-violin duet symbolizing this journey, which is not so easy as birds learning to fly. My own career journey took me through being a shift manager in a carpet mill, to several other jobs that weren’t the right fit. At age thirty, this brought me to a point of surrender. Once I let go and began asking God what He wanted me to do, I sensed a calling to a new job. One step at at time I was able to stick with things, and I didn’t need to force my way. Surrender has played a central role in my quest to live out a fruitful life and story. Consider the passage below, which helped inspire the music for The Quest.

“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.” – Galatians 5:22-23 (The Message)

What is a next step you can take on your quest to live out a fruitful story?

To and Fro

April 23, 2014 By Stanton Lanier 2 Comments

Click above to listen to “To and Fro” from album “Unveiled” as you read. If you enjoy the music, please consider supporting by visiting stantonlanier.com, iTunes, or Amazon.

Does the phrase “To and Fro” have a positive, negative, or neutral meaning to you?

It depends on the context of course, but I would say I have a leaning toward the negative. In this case, “to and fro” can mean wandering aimlessly, not being on a firm path, wasting time, like branches blowing “to and fro” in the wind, etc. This was what would come to my mind when I heard “to and fro” for most of my life, but in 2006 my perspective changed when I started composing the melody “To and Fro” for my 5th album “Unveiled.”

I had heard about the verse down below before, but it started to go deeper into my heart that year, and “to and fro” began to take on a positive light. What if, instead of viewing “to and fro” as my wandering, I could see it as God’s directing and supporting my path. I wasn’t thinking about it at the time I photographed the above train at night, but this image can represent my journey down a “track” that represents God’s guidance one step, one railroad tie at a time. God lights my path (i.e. I am in the dark without Him). He equips me and helps me fulfill His calling, plans and purposes for my life. I encourage you to consider this take on “to and fro” as you listen to the music and meditate on the verse below.

“For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” – 2 Chronicles 16:9 (NASB).

Another version says, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” (NIV)

What are your main heart commitments? Are you ready to embrace a new kind of “to and fro?”