Stanton Lanier

Scripture inspired piano to refresh your spirit

Day 31 for “31 Days of December Peace” ~ Confetti Moments

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Click above to listen to Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring as you read, from December Peace (Best Holiday Album, ZMR Awards). If you enjoy, consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen on Spotify, Pandora Holiday Channel, Apple Music and all other digital streaming services.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or PDF eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

Confetti Moments ~ by Stanton Lanier (Copyright 2012, not to be re-published without permission)

Even though I have played the piano or keyboard over 500 times for concerts, events and groups of all sizes, I haven’t been to that many concerts in my life. On July 2, 2012 I got to go with a friend to see Coldplay live in Atlanta. The audience was captivated from the opening moments. Confetti was blown in huge volume from the stage to the ceiling throughout the second song. Then, it floated back down over the crowd in millions of pieces. This was followed by huge, colorful, air-filled balls being hit into the air across the arena. All kinds of celebration symbols were lavished on everyone like it was New Year’s Eve. It was magnificent.

Coldplay Concert

Here is what I learned…

1. Humankind Loves to Behold Beauty. Rainbows of colors and lighting illuminated the stage, the band members, the confetti, and the computer programmed sparkling wristbands (that everyone in the audience was wearing). These experiences illustrated C. S. Lewis’s words that our greatest moments of beauty, adventure and intimacy in this life are glimpses of heaven. Also, that God planted eternity in the human heart. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

2. Humankind Longs for Hope. C. S. Lewis once wrote, “All joy… emphasizes our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.” Pleasure, comfort, safety, security, good health, provision, enjoyment, seeing the world, loving people… these are some of the ways in which we look for and long for hope. The list could go on and on. G. K. Chesterton adds, “I had always felt life first as a story; and if there is a story there is a storyteller.” The idea that my life is part of a greater story gives me hope.

3. Humankind Loves Moments of Wonder and Adventure. C. S. Lewis also said, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” There is this hard wiring we are born with. One part says guard your life, another part says go for it – “it” being experiences of wonder and adventure. Life moments that make our heart race – like being mesmerized by nature, taking a faith risk, or serving others in love – are worthy pursuits.

What beauty are you beholding today? What hope are you longing for? Where are you feeling nudged toward wonder and adventure in the New Year? Watch for life’s confetti moments…

Day 22 for “31 Days of December Peace” ~ The Greatest Gift

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Click above to listen to Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring as you read, from December Peace (Best Holiday Album, ZMR Awards). If you enjoy, consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen on Spotify, Pandora Holiday Channel, Apple Music and all other digital streaming services.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or PDF eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

The Greatest Gift ~ by David Wills, (Copyright 2012, David Wills, not to be re-published without permission)

Sunday, November 28, 1972. It was a big day. A really big day.

I turned 11, and my parents gave me the greatest gift ever – a black Schwinn bike, complete with a sparkly, silver banana seat and high handle bars. It wasn’t just cool, it was going to be the coolest bike in the bike rack in front of Ben Franklin Elementary School on Monday… and, it was!

Savior Is Born2

Friday, December 3, 1972. It was a bad day. A really bad day.

Probably in my arrogance, I was admiring my new bike more than I should. I parked it in the bike rack that morning and in a rush, failed to remember to put the lock on it.

During recess, I took every opportunity to look at it. It was so cool. But when I came out at the end of the school day to get my incredible bike to ride home, I couldn’t believe me eyes. My stomach dropped. There was the bike rack. But my bike was nowhere in sight. It had disappeared. Stolen. I ran inside to the principal’s office and turned in a report, although I don’t think it did much good. Mr. Taylor wasn’t very fond of me anyway. It was a long, long walk home that day.

Friday, December 24, 1972. A day I will never, ever forget.

My extended family on my mom’s side had driven from Dallas and Waco to spend Christmas with our family. Among the bunch was my great uncle Bill (his real name was David, and I was named after him).

Uncle Bill was one tough hombre, as bald as bald could be. All of us kids were all a bit scared of him. He never married because he was in the FBI… whoa! He would never tell us what he did, so you can imagine what we thought he did. Uncle Bill lived by himself in an old house where my great-grandparents had lived in Waco, Texas. I always remember thinking how poor he was.

Christmas Eve can be magical for a 10-year-old boy. You can guess what I hoped for, but knew I wouldn’t receive.

Of course, another bike.

Sure enough, when Santa showed up… Schwinn did not. I knew it was all my fault I didn’t have a bike. After we opened our presents, Uncle Bill called my dad and me into my parents’ bedroom. I remember it like it was yesterday. I thought I was in trouble, as it was a condition I often found myself in. Uncle Bill pulled out his old leather wallet, opened it up, and took out a crisp brand new $100 dollar bill. I had never seen one in my life. He told me he heard about my bike being stolen and wanted to give me $100 dollars so I could go with my dad to get a new bike.

I just stared at it. I couldn’t believe it. Tears come even now, as I see this memory so clearly in my mind’s eye.

You see… generosity changes everything. I never looked at Uncle Bill the same. Here was a man that gave far more than he could afford to help a kid get a bike. Generosity is a strong, powerful, and mysterious thing. It changes us when we do it. It changes us when it’s done to us. That day forever changed that boy and this man.

May you experience generosity and the peace that comes from it this December, as we celebrate the One who would give the greatest gift of all.

Day 11 for “31 Days of December Peace” ~ Sacred Joy

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Click above to listen to Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring as you read, from December Peace (Best Holiday Album, ZMR Awards). If you enjoy, consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen on Spotify, Pandora Holiday Channel, Apple Music and all other digital streaming services.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or PDF eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

Sacred Joy ~ By Cathi Spornick (Copyright 2012, Cathi Spornick, not to be reused without permission)

Snow had fallen softly all day that Christmas Eve, and the blanket that covered Philadelphia made even the most gnarly northeasterner smile. Street sounds throughout the city were muted, and inside we listened to Mitch Miller sing the holiday songs of 1963 that only he could deliver.

The tree was especially beautiful that year, or perhaps in my memory it must have been, since unknown to me at the time, it was the last Christmas our family had together. There was palatable joy in the house, and seeing my mother and father full of that joy made the world perfect for a six-year-old little girl.

Christmas Village

Santa visited our home that evening, an unimaginable feat that he would take time from his very busy schedule to visit a little girl in a row house in Philadelphia, but there he stood in my living room in full color, including a slightly red nose. His eyes seemed blurry and not twinkling, but I chalked that up to the cold night outside. I later learned that the red nose was honestly earned by our neighbor who gladly dressed up as Santa on Christmas Eve each year for our block. He was Italian, and did enjoy a bit of Christmas vino throughout the day before visiting our homes.

I was given a quick hug and cautioned that I had better be in bed early if I wanted a visit. I raced up the stairs and into my new red and white flannel polka dot pajamas, and pulled the covers up to my nose. My father, who was a commercial milk truck driver, worked nights, even on Christmas Eve, and I listened closely for the hushed conversation of my mom and dad as they said good night and locks were drawn. My mother padded through the house quietly as if the snow had fallen inside as well. As she turned off the lights room by room, I could see the Christmas tree lights filter under my door and intersect with the moonlight from my window as though they sought each other out. I drifted to sleep knowing that when my father came home at daybreak, I would surely hear the turn of his key in the lock and the great festivities would begin.

That anticipation, hope, and joy that rested on me in 1963 is still with me as I ponder the glorious gift of God become Man. I have learned that all memories of this kind of joy and love are sacred even though they are not outwardly religious. They are not laden with nostalgic glimmer, but rather they are full of eternal hope, and a lovely shadowing of the eternal things to come.

All of heaven must have been full of the same anticipation that first Christmas Eve. All of mankind now yearns for that intimate knowledge of God and our childlike experiences and memories are to be embraced and nourished. They are a reflection of the glory that is ours as we experience the birth of Word become Flesh, the daily grace of the Spirit of Truth engraved on our hearts, and the magnificent love of a Father who has come home and turned the key in the lock. Rejoice and be glad! A Savior is born!

December 31st ~ Confetti Moments

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Click above to listen to Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring as you read. This unique arrangement is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

Confetti Moments ~ by Stanton Lanier (Copyright 2012, not to be re-published without permission)

Even though I have played the piano or keyboard over 500 times for concerts, events and groups of all sizes, I haven’t been to that many concerts in my life. On July 2, 2012 I got to go with a friend to see Coldplay live in Atlanta. The audience was captivated from the opening moments. Confetti was blown in huge volume from the stage to the ceiling throughout the second song. Then, it floated back down over the crowd in millions of pieces. This was followed by huge, colorful, air-filled balls being hit into the air across the arena. All kinds of celebration symbols were lavished on everyone like it was New Year’s Eve. It was magnificent.

Coldplay Concert

Here is what I learned…

1. Humankind Loves to Behold Beauty. Rainbows of colors and lighting illuminated the stage, the band members, the confetti, and the computer programmed sparkling wristbands (that everyone in the audience was wearing). These experiences illustrated C. S. Lewis’s words that our greatest moments of beauty, adventure and intimacy in this life are glimpses of heaven. Also, that God planted eternity in the human heart. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

2. Humankind Longs for Hope. C. S. Lewis once wrote, “All joy… emphasizes our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.” Pleasure, comfort, safety, security, good health, provision, enjoyment, seeing the world, loving people… these are some of the ways in which we look for and long for hope. The list could go on and on. G. K. Chesterton adds, “I had always felt life first as a story; and if there is a story there is a storyteller.” The idea that my life is part of a greater story gives me hope.

3. Humankind Loves Moments of Wonder and Adventure. C. S. Lewis also said, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” There is this hard wiring we are born with. One part says guard your life, another part says go for it – “it” being experiences of wonder and adventure. Life moments that make our heart race – like being mesmerized by nature, taking a faith risk, or serving others in love – are worthy pursuits.

What beauty are you beholding today? What hope are you longing for? Where are you feeling nudged toward wonder and adventure in the New Year? Watch for life’s confetti moments…

December 22nd ~ The Greatest Gift

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Click above to listen to Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring as you read. This piano solo is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

The Greatest Gift ~ by David Wills, www.generousgiving.org (Copyright 2012, David Wills, not to be re-published without permission)

Sunday, November 28, 1972. It was a big day. A really big day.

I turned 11, and my parents gave me the greatest gift ever – a black Schwinn bike, complete with a sparkly, silver banana seat and high handle bars. It wasn’t just cool, it was going to be the coolest bike in the bike rack in front of Ben Franklin Elementary School on Monday… and, it was!

Savior Is Born2

Friday, December 3, 1972. It was a bad day. A really bad day.

Probably in my arrogance, I was admiring my new bike more than I should. I parked it in the bike rack that morning and in a rush, failed to remember to put the lock on it.

During recess, I took every opportunity to look at it. It was so cool. But when I came out at the end of the school day to get my incredible bike to ride home, I couldn’t believe me eyes. My stomach dropped. There was the bike rack. But my bike was nowhere in sight. It had disappeared. Stolen. I ran inside to the principal’s office and turned in a report, although I don’t think it did much good. Mr. Taylor wasn’t very fond of me anyway. It was a long, long walk home that day.

Friday, December 24, 1972. A day I will never, ever forget.

My extended family on my mom’s side had driven from Dallas and Waco to spend Christmas with our family. Among the bunch was my great uncle Bill (his real name was David, and I was named after him).

Uncle Bill was one tough hombre, as bald as bald could be. All of us kids were all a bit scared of him. He never married because he was in the FBI… whoa! He would never tell us what he did, so you can imagine what we thought he did. Uncle Bill lived by himself in an old house where my great-grandparents had lived in Waco, Texas. I always remember thinking how poor he was.

Christmas Eve can be magical for a 10-year-old boy. You can guess what I hoped for, but knew I wouldn’t receive.

Of course, another bike.

Sure enough, when Santa showed up… Schwinn did not. I knew it was all my fault I didn’t have a bike. After we opened our presents, Uncle Bill called my dad and me into my parents’ bedroom. I remember it like it was yesterday. I thought I was in trouble, as it was a condition I often found myself in. Uncle Bill pulled out his old leather wallet, opened it up, and took out a crisp brand new $100 dollar bill. I had never seen one in my life. He told me he heard about my bike being stolen and wanted to give me $100 dollars so I could go with my dad to get a new bike.

I just stared at it. I couldn’t believe it. Tears come even now, as I see this memory so clearly in my mind’s eye.

You see… generosity changes everything. I never looked at Uncle Bill the same. Here was a man that gave far more than he could afford to help a kid get a bike. Generosity is a strong, powerful, and mysterious thing. It changes us when we do it. It changes us when it’s done to us. That day forever changed that boy and this man.

May you experience generosity and the peace that comes from it this December, as we celebrate the One who would give the greatest gift of all.

Day 11, 31 Days of December Peace ~ Sacred Joy

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Click above to listen to my arrangement of J. S. Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring as you read. This is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

Sacred Joy ~ By Cathi Spornick, www.ordinarytime-spornick.blogspot.com (Copyright 2012, Cathi Spornick, not to be reused without permission)

Snow had fallen softly all day that Christmas Eve, and the blanket that covered Philadelphia made even the most gnarly northeasterner smile. Street sounds throughout the city were muted, and inside we listened to Mitch Miller sing the holiday songs of 1963 that only he could deliver.

The tree was especially beautiful that year, or perhaps in my memory it must have been, since unknown to me at the time, it was the last Christmas our family had together. There was palatable joy in the house, and seeing my mother and father full of that joy made the world perfect for a six-year-old little girl.

Christmas Village

Santa visited our home that evening, an unimaginable feat that he would take time from his very busy schedule to visit a little girl in a row house in Philadelphia, but there he stood in my living room in full color, including a slightly red nose. His eyes seemed blurry and not twinkling, but I chalked that up to the cold night outside. I later learned that the red nose was honestly earned by our neighbor who gladly dressed up as Santa on Christmas Eve each year for our block. He was Italian, and did enjoy a bit of Christmas vino throughout the day before visiting our homes.

I was given a quick hug and cautioned that I had better be in bed early if I wanted a visit. I raced up the stairs and into my new red and white flannel polka dot pajamas, and pulled the covers up to my nose. My father, who was a commercial milk truck driver, worked nights, even on Christmas Eve, and I listened closely for the hushed conversation of my mom and dad as they said good night and locks were drawn. My mother padded through the house quietly as if the snow had fallen inside as well. As she turned off the lights room by room, I could see the Christmas tree lights filter under my door and intersect with the moonlight from my window as though they sought each other out. I drifted to sleep knowing that when my father came home at daybreak, I would surely hear the turn of his key in the lock and the great festivities would begin.

That anticipation, hope, and joy that rested on me in 1963 is still with me as I ponder the glorious gift of God become Man. I have learned that all memories of this kind of joy and love are sacred even though they are not outwardly religious. They are not laden with nostalgic glimmer, but rather they are full of eternal hope, and a lovely shadowing of the eternal things to come.

All of heaven must have been full of the same anticipation that first Christmas Eve. All of mankind now yearns for that intimate knowledge of God and our childlike experiences and memories are to be embraced and nourished. They are a reflection of the glory that is ours as we experience the birth of Word become Flesh, the daily grace of the Spirit of Truth engraved on our hearts, and the magnificent love of a Father who has come home and turned the key in the lock. Rejoice and be glad! A Savior is born!

How J.S. Bach Inspires Creativity

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Click above to listen to Hymn to Bach from my 7th album A Thousand Years, featuring timeless classics and hymns. If you enjoy, please consider ordering the CD, MP3 Album, or sheet music from the A Thousand Years store page. You can also download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

How can J.S. Bach’s creativity inspire yours?

Johann Sebastian Bach lived from 1685 to 1750 in Germany. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth. There are over 1,100 known compositions. Somehow his music speaks to the soul, and I believe there is a reason why.

When I was taking twelve years of piano lessons from 1st through 12th grade, I was introduced to Bach’s Invention No. 8 when I was fourteen (also the year I wrote my first song). I knew this piece by memory for the next fifteen years, and would play it often. About ten years ago I came to deeply appreciate one of Bach’s greatest quotes…

Johann_Sebastian_Bach
“The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” Bach wrote the initials “S. D. G.” at the end of all his church compositions, and many others. This dedication meant Soli Deo Gloria (To the Glory of God Alone). Bach’s music still lifts the heart and energizes the soul, and Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring is still one of the most popular and well known wedding songs around the world today.

In tribute to Bach, I arranged Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring into my style blended with original composing. This solo piano piece opens my album December Peace (2009 Best Holiday Album, ZMR Awards). Listen to Jesu here. For the album A Thousand Years I arranged another famous Bach melody, Air on the G String, and combined this with the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy to honor Bach’s dedication Soli Deo Gloria. Listen to Hymn to Bach here.

I believe we all have one or two God-given gifts, passions and talents. Any number of skills and interests can be developed to become strengths, but when hard work and practice are put into something we love and are passionate about — and then we do this to the glory of God — the potential blessings are timeless and without limit.

What is your creative gift you are most passionate about?

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” — Isaiah 6:3