Stanton Lanier

Scripture inspired piano to refresh your spirit

Are You Ready for 31 Days?

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Do you long for peace and rest during the stressful holiday season? I have been working on a special project to bring you daily inspiration throughout December. I will be sharing in my blog, but you can also learn more by visiting my Amazon Kindle page.

31 Days eBook Cover

31 Days of December Peace is a brand new companion resource for my 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards). I, along with special friends from my musical journey, have written stories and reflections inviting you into blissful moments each day during December (best while listening to the album).

My journey to founding Music to Light the World, and becoming an award-winning pianist and composer, was shaped by climbing trees in North Carolina, working at a canoe rental in the Florida panhandle, majoring in chemistry at Georgia Tech, meditating on ancient scriptures, and many other stories. Special friends have played a part in this story too, including a nephrologist, a Grammy winning producer, a jewelry designer, business owners, spiritual leaders, artists, authors, financial advisors and cancer survivors. Their stories interweave with mine to create a beautiful tapestry of peace, rest, hope and healing that is touching lives around the world.

Find a quiet place. Pause from the stress. Receive peace and rest. The words of 31 Days of December Peace and the music of December Peace invite you to experience a refreshing and renewing December.

What Brings You Peace and Rest?

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I’m in the middle of a busier than normal stretch, so I had to let my blogging rest for a bit. This “stopping” brought me peace and rest. Last Sunday I got to share my first ever concert in Missouri (at First Baptist Church in Dexter). This “doing” brought me peace and rest (see the photo below). Right now, some new music for my next album is on hold. This “waiting” brings me peace and rest.

Is there something you could stop doing to bring you peace and rest?

Is there something you can do to bring you peace and rest?

Is there something where waiting could bring you peace and rest?

Live Concert Image

Peace and rest

Last week I was working to get ready for our biggest event of the year on October 11th (An Evening of Hope 2012). I was also preparing for events this week in Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee. Back at the beginning of June, I set a goal to blog 2-3 times per week. I’ve “failed” a few times. This summer I also created the first three episodes of the Pianist of Peace podcast, each with a personal story, a life question, and music for reflection. My goal was to release one new podcast each month. This launched with the August Podcast, and the September Podcast followed. I will probably “fail” at this goal from time to time as well.

If you are in a busier than normal stretch, what can bring you peace and rest? Do you need to “stop” or “do” or “wait” regarding the possibilities? One thing I know:  Whatever your passion is, whatever makes you come alive, don’t stop doing that. It will fill your heart with good things and overflow into your life being a blessing to others.

Rivers of Light

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This morning I decided to create the opportunity for you to be still, slow down and just “be” versus “doing.” Take five minutes to watch the Rivers of Light music video. Reflect on the two questions below, then meditate on the two verses at the bottom that inspired this composition.

  • What is an answer I am looking for today?
  • What is a good gift I am desiring?

  • Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear – Isaiah 65:24
  • Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. – James 1:17

Silence in the Noise

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How do you find silence in all the noise around you? Take a moment to be silent and take in the photo below, or a view you have out the window. Or, close your eyes and think of your favorite “quiet place.” Something happened to me when I went for a run this morning that forced me into silence…

Beach Thunderstorm

Beach Thunderstorm – Symbol of Silence

I got out my little clip on iPod shuffle to listen to some music during my run. After getting it set in my ears, I noticed the switch had already been moved over to the “on” position. This had happened before. I knew the battery would be dead, and it was. I had to run without any music, which turned out to be a good thing.

I remembered running before there were iPods or MP3 players. This morning I listened to my feet. I heard different kinds of birds singing their morning song. I heard my breathing. There was a little bit of road noise from cars, but I can’t remember it. I must have blocked it out. I found myself praying some too. I was able to find “silence in the noise.” It was refreshing.

Can you remember your favorite “quiet places” growing up? I used to climb trees and take long bike rides. I remember a summer job carrying canoes down to the river with nobody around. In college, I used to find a desk for studying in the most hidden away part of the library. It seems that we all have a need for silence. Silence is refreshing to the soul.

What is your favorite “quiet place” today? There are moments I long for during vacation times, like a thunderstorm at the beach. This can be a quiet place. I like to be up early sometimes, reading in my favorite chair, before the world is awake. This can be a quiet place. See what happens in your life this week when you meditate on the idea of finding “silence in the noise.”

To go a step further, try listening to a sample of Quiet Place from my 5th album The Voice.

Podcast #1: Vive La Joye – The Sweetgum Tree

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I am very excited to share my very first podcast with through this blog post! I have wanted to do this for a long time. The idea is to provide you with an extended “concert moment,” with three ways to experience peace and rest, inspiration and creativity in your life today:

Part 1 – You will hear a short, personal life story to inspire your journey.
Part 2 – You will be able to listen to a full-length melody to help you pause and reflect on a specific aspect of your life.
Part 3 – You will be able to consider a few questions to encourage and challenge you to live a better story.

Stanton Lanier, The Sweetgum Tree

Sweet gum photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/14083893

I started piano lessons at age six, growing up in North Carolina. There was a giant sweet gum tree across the street from our house. It seemed a hundred feet high. I didn’t know it then, but climbing to the top was stirring a longing for wonder and adventure in life. This got pressed down as I got older and struggled to find safety, security and success.

I hope you will make the time to listen. It may stir up some great memories of your childhood. Maybe there is something it will encourage you to pursue. Something good and true you have thought about doing for a long time. I would love to hear your comments and will respond personally…

[buzzsprout episode=’56615′ player=’true’]

Ancient Paths – My First MP3 Single

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“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, about 600 B.C.).

Today – a new MP3 single release. Two months ago – no idea a song would be created that expressed this ancient verse. Here is it how it happened and what it means to me…             ~ photo credits to my gifted friend Craig Corbin – www.craigcorbinphotography.com

In May a couple who has supported Music to Light the World for many years, made it possible for me to replace a 12-year old keyboard (my first 3 of 7 albums were created and recorded on this). I ordered a new Yamaha synthesizer and it arrived about a week later. In the first hour of playing around with the incredible piano sounds and endless mixing combinations, a new song was born (coming later). In the second hour, another new song was born that became Ancient Paths. The melody came quickly, and some surrounding variations surfaced during a few more short sessions at the keyboard. I knew it was complete in early July and was hoping to release my first MP3 single.

Today it happened. Here are a few thoughts on what it means to me…

  • Using our creative gifts feeds our heart, which then overflows in service to others
  • Things happen little by little, one step, one day at at a time; have patience; be thankful
  • “Stand at the crossroads and look” What decision are you facing today? The melody opens with a pattern of plodding through life, step by step, looking for the path.
  • “Ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is” The melody sweetens as the good way is revealed with a sense of striding in it. What have you learned from history, from ancient paths, others who have gone before you? King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that God planted eternity in the human heart. Have you thought of eternity as a “good way” before? What a mystery that we are “wired” to seek eternal life.
  • “and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” The musical combinations have an overriding hope to receive peace and rest. Walking through life, looking, plodding, finding the good way, smiling, striding, glowing.

Augustine wrote around 400 A.D. “God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.” What are you restless about in your life right now? How can you ask where the good way is, and walk in it? This really tests my faith at times. “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). I love this promise. I need rest for my soul today. How about you?

Thanks for “listening” to some of the depth behind a piano melody that married to its title, Ancient Paths. I would love to hear from you with thoughts on this new piece of music, as well as the questions above. The MP3 is available at stantonlanier.com, and worldwide on iTunes, Amazon and all other digital outlets. Grace and peace until next time…

Contentment = Peace and Rest

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Half Dome View – Yosemite National Park

In the next few months my song Contentment from The Voice CD will be heard in 13,000 fitness clubs in 70 countries. It will be used for the cool down, deep breathing time at the end, following an intense one-hour workout with instructor and DVD.

This inspired me to write down a few steps to help turn us from discontentment toward contentment:

  • Think about things you don’t have OR focus on giving thanks for things you do have
  • Dream about goals that haven’t happened OR take one positive step to make progress
  • Worry about outcomes you can’t control OR surrender outcomes and serve others well
  • Be frustrated by what hasn’t gone your way OR remember when things turned out okay
  • Let fear and uncertainty cause inertia OR let faith and adventure move you forward
  • Measure where you have less than others OR count life’s blessings that are priceless

Contentment liner notes from The Voice CD: It is so easy for me to be discontent with my circumstances or to worry about the future, even though I know there is so much to be thankful for. I wrote this to slow down my mind from thinking anxious thoughts, and to focus on the things in life that are pure and lovely. “But godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” (1 Timothy 6:6, 6:7-8, Philippians 4:11)

How can you learn to be more content today? What areas can you turn from discontentment toward contentment?

Solitude Refreshes

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You will often see themes of simplicity, silence, solitude and surrender interwoven in my music and life stories. Solitude makes me think of the saying about how the quality of our private life produces the quality of our public life. Solitude refreshes, renews and revives. A few memories of solitude and current practices of solitude for me are:

  • Sitting all alone at the top of my favorite tree when I was ten years old
  • Going on a childhood bicycle ride to a friend’s house
  • Working at a canoe rental and being outdoors in the river all alone
  • Driving or camping all alone in open spaces, like northern Minnesota in grad school
  • Going for a run and listening to peaceful music
  • Waking up early for quiet time while most of the world is still sleeping

What are your favorite memories of solitude? What are your favorite practices of solitude?