"The sleep of the farmer in Jesus’ parable particularly fascinates me.  He has sown the seed for his crop, and he rises daily to tend it. The crop could never come to fruition without him, but his labors do not bring about the essential mystery of life. 'The seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.'  He cannot cause or control the transformation of seed to stalk to head to full grain. 'The earth produces of itself,' and the progress of the harvest is furthered as much by his sleep as by his rising."

--Steven Bonsey, The Activist as Contemplative: Resting for Social Change