Gonzaga Witness

Issue date: 4/28/09 Section: Features

To say that my life has been a little hectic would be an incredible understatement. With seventeen credit-hours, four-hour rehearsals for choir, four-hour long rehearsals for GUTS, and yet more rehearsals for other acting projects I am involved in, I often forgot to eat lunch or dinner, ignoring breakfast altogether. This semester has been something of a challenge for me in my life, and I believe I have made it through with the help of Father Spitzer.
The theme of this issue should make it obvious that this article will be about Father Spitzer, and rightly so. Everyone has some amazing story they can tell about Father Spitzer, and perhaps sum it up in three points (zing!). Joking aside, in the fall of 2008, in one of his three points on a normal Sunday, he spoke a prayer that has stuck with me this semester. It was long enough ago that I cannot remember the context of this prayer, but it is a prayer that he has also repeated on occasion in many of his homilies. It is simple, and incredibly effective: "God, I give up, You take care of it!".
We are all human beings, and in that we are limited in our capabilities and what we can physically accomplish in our very brief time here on Earth. In a very specific sense, we are all (most likely) college students where our time is not only stretched incredibly thin, but has so much demanded of it that there is practically no time to sleep. I fell deeply into that trap. I began to sacrifice bodily health and wellness to accomplish everything I had to accomplish. I would sleep maybe four to five hours of sleep a night if I was lucky, and realize at eight o'clock at night that I had not eaten since lunch the previous day
I was very scared, as was my family. I had taken on too much, and I was trying to control it all. One night, while praying before bed, I asked God to help me survive this. When I did, I heard Father Spitzer's voice say, "I give up, You take care of it!". I remembered this random prayer, and knew God was telling me to slow down, and to trust. I resolved to keep this in my mind and always do my best to abide by that prayer.
A nice "And I lived happily ever after" would be a great way to end it, but hey, I am not at the end of the semester quite yet. And I am still incredibly busy, but if there is something that I cannot control, I simply say, "God, I give up, You take care of it." Father Spitzer showed me what it meant to truly let God take over with nine small words, and it has completely changed my semester and mindset for work. I thank Father Spitzer for teaching me how to let go, and for being a guiding force in all of our lives.

Brandon Garnreiter is a Sophomore

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