In my quest to find a rest role model, God gave me Jaimee Keogler, the designer behind Simple Saints. And like most people who know a thing or two about how to rest, she knows a thing or three about working hard.
You see during the pandemic, Jaimee’s house has been pretty full. She runs her business from home, her husband works from home, and she homeschools her kids at home.
As she put it, “every day can feel like a workday and every day can feel like a weekend”. I immediately understood what she was saying. Through this last year, time has lost all sense of order and direction and I know that for me personally, that manifests as underworking or overworking on any given day.
Like many people, I’ve combatted this by trying to work at coffee shops or enforce deadlines on myself. For Jamie, the trick has been communication:
“Rest has required communication with my husband. I’m married with three kids, plus I’m running my business. So every day I tell him how I’m doing and where I’m at and what I need. Usually, I just need 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there. I’ll go get the mail by myself or go to church by myself. I’m an introvert so I try to find the times when I can be alone with my own breath and my own thoughts.”
Chuckling, she told me that her seven year old had started following in her footsteps, recently pulling her aside to tell her that she needed a break from her five year old sister. I smiled at the scene she described, admiring how had taught her children to claim a space for rest.
She went on to explain that her family has prioritized the Sabbath throughout the pandemic, making sure to take a step away from their work, even though their home has become their classroom and offices. She told me that they have had to learn to discipline themselves into resting, describing Sundays as a “gift and a commandment”.
And so, it came as no surprise that Jaimee’s addition to this quarter’s Little Catholic Box is a sticker portraying Mary in her many forms. Jaimee leads her business with the same grace and Marian disposition that she leads her family, and this is very clearly reflected in all of the art she creates for Simple Saints. The image of Mary that she has crafted for us encompasses Mary’s love and protection in the domestic and in the miraculous.
It is my hope that we, like Jaimee, may each carry this image with us through the days or rush and the days of rest.