Rejoicing

April 21, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Rejoicing from Open Spaces as you read (in this post I suggest a way to listen down below). If you enjoy the music, please consider supporting by visiting stantonlanier.com, iTunes, or Amazon.

Can you think of something that reminds you to rejoice?

One of these for me is the azalea flower. Azaleas are flowering shrubs native to several continents including Asia, Europe and North America. They are planted abundantly as ornamentals in the southeastern United States, southern Asia, and parts of southwest Europe. This global presence of azaleas gave me an idea. This beautiful flower that reminds me to rejoice, also represents a oneness all of humanity shares — a longing for rejoicing and true joy. Azaleas come in many varieties and colors. Every April we have several blooming around our house, as seen in this just-taken photo collage.

Life’s roller coaster ride brings both joy and struggle. Azaleas remind me to find rejoicing during the ups and the downs. When I composed the song Rejoicing, I created a more open space in the middle to represent seasons of waiting, moments of uncertainty, and times of conflict, when I wonder if and when rejoicing will come. Listen to the music of Rejoicing, and meditate on the music of life. Try letting the piano illustrate the journey, and the cello symbolize God’s grace along the way.

During Easter yesterday my heart and soul were stirred with rejoicing in Jesus’s resurrection, which is filled with the promise of new and eternal life. Oswald Chambers has a great reflection rooted in the following verse: “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).

“The joy of Jesus was His absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice to His Father — the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do. Living a full and overflowing life does not rest in bodily health, in circumstances, nor even in seeing God’s work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God, and in the same fellowship and oneness with Him that Jesus Himself enjoyed.” (from Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, August 31st reading).

Have you seen anything today that reminded you to rejoice?

Shadows into Light

April 18, 2014 By Stanton Lanier 2 Comments

Click above to listen to Shadows into Light from Open Spaces as you read. If you enjoy the music, please consider supporting by visiting stantonlanier.com, iTunes, or Amazon.

“He reveals the deep things of darkness, and brings deep shadows into the light.” – Job 12:22

This will be a first to share a few words on Good Friday, which Wikipedia defines this way…

“Good Friday is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover.”

When I was composing Shadows into Light I wasn’t thinking of Good Friday. However, there is a connection. The piano in Shadows into Light goes back and forth between the darkness inside us and the light that God offers through His son. Jesus dying on the cross for our sin was the ultimate conversion of shadows into light. Interestingly, recently I saw this unique art below at Wheaton College during a Chicago concert trip. It allows you to go through the shadows of the cross into the light of the cross.

Wherever this meets you in your story today, whether life seems more in the “shadows” or in the “light” right now, I pray the blend of piano, light percussion, and keyboard, brings you hope and lifts your spirit. Does this music or reflection speak to you in a special way? If so, I would love to hear from you, and will respond personally.

May the light of Jesus shine on your Good Friday, your Easter weekend, and in your heart.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” – Isaiah 53:5-6

Are You Standing at a Crossroads?

April 16, 2014 By Stanton Lanier 2 Comments

Click above to stream Ancient Paths as you read. This track from Open Spaces features piano, percussion, French horn, and vocals to offer rest to your soul. If you enjoy the music, please consider supporting by visiting stantonlanier.com, iTunes, or Amazon.

Are you standing at a crossroads?

crossroads |ˈkrôsˌrōdz|
noun
an intersection of two or more roads.
• a point at which a crucial decision must be made that will have far-reaching consequences: we stand again at a historic crossroads.
• (crossroad) a road that crosses a main road or joins two main roads.

Each of our stories has many points of decision along the way. These can be small, medium, large, or huge. I can think of a few: Should I quit piano lessons? Where should I go to college? Is this shift manager job at a carpet mill the right one to begin my career? Should I ask this girl to marry me? Do I keep waiting or do I take a leap of faith?

It seems that a hope for “success” is present when we stand at a crossroads. We want to make the “right” decision, and not make the “wrong” move. When I was thirty my definition of success shifted from “striving to achieve” to “abiding to receive.” I began to trust God more with each crossroads, asking Him for guidance and walking in it by faith. In the beginning I thought I was starting to know His plans for my future. Instead, He started teaching me just to take things one day at a time, to listen for His voice with a heart of surrender. I think of it as trying to keep in stride with God’s pace. Sometimes this means waiting, sometimes walking, sometimes running, and sometimes sprinting to keep up. I don’t want to run ahead, but I don’t want to lag behind.

How is your pace right now, as you prepare for your next crossroads?

“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16