Collide.

The rhythmic collision of my feet against the pavement echoes loudly the great reminder that we have made it through another cold winter, another rebirth in the spring time, and we have now entered the clear summer skies. Safe from the blistering cold and the wrath of allergy season, I can run outdoors again.

Today, every moment of collision was a moment of grand and life-changing discoveries. With each impact against the poorly covered potholes and lopsided roads, the familiar aspects of my little world revealed that even in this tiny corner of the universe, I have a bird's eye view of life itself.

I have circled Spiceberry, Sandpiper, and Candleberry lanes multiple times before. I know the hilliest street, and the row of houses that contains the highest concentration of pet dogs (or bears really,) and the most beat-up roads. I never exactly ran to admire the trees that sprawl repeatedly throughout the place. I never really allowed the common wildflowers to amaze me with their delicate and most intricate beauty. I don't really run to encounter strangers. So to meet the world the way I did today has to be a miracle.

It was possibly the strangest run I've ever gone on. I felt as if I had access to the rest of the world just by being outside my doorstep. The familiarity that often screams 'ordinary' beautifully revealed the unique fingerprint of this tiny corner of mine: Every breaking and broken fence, the ranch style houses, the ancient tint of golden-brown on the bricks that hold each home together. There were grandmas gardening while their fat cat sat on their window pane. The celestial hymn of the universe of crying babies, laughing children, barking dogs, reconciling teenage lovers, foreign languages, and even the clanging of iron horseshoes. Yes, I even came across a man playing a game of horseshoes. Ordinary began to translate itself extraordinarily as I came across a house adorned gracefully (also somewhat whimsically) with cherubs and, most beautifully, a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in her bright green cloak and her rose-colored dress. She stood there humbly, but she stood out among the angels spread all over the front lawn. Each beauty was an affirmation to my decision to do something and go somewhere.

I didn't run because I felt like running. I ran because I needed to move. I needed something. As a matter of fact, I dreaded it. I dreaded the lopsided and cracked sidewalks, the hills, and the initial pain. However, after everything, I couldn't have been more glad that I overcame the weakness and difficulty. With that, I realized that the defining moments in our lives didn't happen because we did what we felt like doing. Convenience is not peace. Not having failed because you've done absolutely nothing and have taken zero risk in your life is not accomplishment. Life happens when you do what needs to be done. Dreams are realized when you decide that no lopsidedness, no hills, no pain can rob you of the joy your heart seeks, of the peace your mind needs. The fullness of life lies not in the fleeting moments of temporary happiness or the fading bursts of laughter. Rather, it is every single moment of our lives, whether happy or sad, that contains the fullness of life. We live to the fullest when we make each moment count. No matter how fast or slow we go, every step we take creates a moment of impact that leads us closer to home -- where our hearts and treasures lie.

As the tempo of my racing feet slowed down to a stroll, I felt as if it had been the first time I had seen the world. It was immaculate, ineffable, and golden. For the longest time, I've looked at these familiar aspects of my life without ever really seeing that every flower has their own color or that every house is a home with people who have stories to share. I look, but I never see. I hear different languages and opinions floating about in the air, and I hear voices, but I hardly listen.

Indeed, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but even without the beholder beauty still and surely will continue to exist because beauty is Truth. It is the Truth not bound by our definitions, observations, or anything of this world. It isn't necessary that we believe in these things because they will exist regardless. Nevertheless, we are here. Regardless of how and what we feel, we need to constantly choose to move, collide, and create impacts that continually cause life-changing discoveries for ourselves and everyone else around us.