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 Today is my little “bump-on-a-log's” fourth birthday. That's four more than we were told she'd have....
There we were sitting in the doctor's office in Houston when some young pup comes in and tells us, “Well you might want to consider having her committed. She's going to be... well... she's going to be pretty much nothing but a bump on a log. She'll be nothing more than a vegetable. I mean, if she lives very long at all”
Today, Sophia turns four years old - not bad for a bump-on-a-log. Not bad at all. She can't talk, but she communicates. She even says some important words like, “Hey! Yeah! and Uh huh.” She's delayed seriously, but we see things that make us optimistic. She walks in her walker. She's even started pulling herself up! She usually rolls and army crawls her way around.
She loves laptops and cellphones. If I leave my laptop and she sees it, she stops whatever she is doing and goes and pounds on the keys. She likes to snatch a cellphone and wildly press buttons and hold it to her head and smile. As if the person on the other end can hear her smiling. How can they not? She's a child of God. All things are hers!
The world stops for Dora the Explorer. She loves her Auntie Linda at church, school, ribbons, and going places. Mom's her favorite. Personally, I'd like to think Dad's moving up. I think he passed the cat on her list.
My bump-on-a-log is spoiled. She orders us around. She orders the brothers around. Pointing and making loud sounds! She loves.. absolutely loves going “bye bye” or “outside.”
During prayers, she smiles and laughs. Doesn't she know it's serious time when we pray the Catechism? Who does she think she is?
She is Miss Sophia Marie Borghardt. That's the name He gave her at Baptism. She may not realize she is baptized, but who she isn't determined by her, but by the Lord. He's marked her with His Name. She wears His name all the time. And although she doesn't know that Jesus went through suffering, hell, and death for her. He did anyway.
He has never abandoned her. Can't – not after He put His name on her. He's with her through bump-on-the-log time, when she's sick in the hospital, during her seizures, and even while she's playing during prayers.
Some of my friends think that the way we live in this world is too good to be true - as if we are on rocks or something. How can you rejoice in sufferings? You're faking it. They think that my little family is somehow out of touch with reality, living in a dreamland, or thinking that the dung pile really doesn't stink.
No, we are all quite aware that the dung pile does stink. So do her nasty diapers. We are not saying that poop doesn't stink. But Jesus has taken on our poop (our sins) and redeemed us – even those who are bumps-on-a-log.
 It's not a dream world that we live in nor is it fake. We don't wake up and convince ourselves that the world is better than it is. Nope, it's a rough world out there. There are genetic disorders, seizures, children who die, and those who are nothing but bumps-on-a-log.
But, what if Jesus does actually make all things new? What if He actually does take the light of His Gospel and shine through our darkness? What if...all that He said about us is true? What if our lives right now are hidden with Christ in God? What if Sophia's life is hidden right now with God?
And if that is true then, it is true now. Right now... she is a child of God. Right now she is an heir to all things. Heaven and earth are hers in Christ. And no one – not even an angel from heaven - can take who she is in Christ away from her.
And that... might even cause us to smile even in the face of death. How could we not? For we have already died – having been crucified with Christ. We no longer live, but Christ lives in us. The life we got going on now, we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Some say that when we say that Sophia – sicknesses and all - is a gift from God that we are blaming God for evil. Nah, we are saying that in her Baptism all things are hers and all things are new. Yes, she has a Father who did that for her in the giving up of His Son. A Father who glorifies Himself in her life every day – even the life of a bump-on-a-log.
It is not a law to rejoice in your sufferings. We are free to suffer patiently. But, Sophia rejoices in her sufferings. Her parents are free to rejoice with her. How could we not? Jesus makes all things new – on the Last Day and right now.
Today is bump-on-the-log's birthday. That's four more than we were told she'd have. Come to think of it, no one ever told us how many birthdays the boys would have. I guess we'll just have to take each day and see what the Lord gives.
And if she should be granted another day, we'll that'll be just fine. Another year? Great.
But what if she should not wake up today? Well, that day has already happened to her on July 9, 2002 when a little three pound bump-on-a-log was drowned and died with three squirts from a syringe and the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
"Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said to me, 'Write, for these words are true and faithful.' (Rev 21:5) In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Edited on: July 13th, 2006 12:20 pm
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