Aiming at the Heart

A Word from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

A Word from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

If you want to build a ship don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

In his book, You Are What You Love, James KA Smith paints a picture of humans, not merely as “thinking things” but, as “desiring animals. In other words, he argues that we are led not by our brains, but by our hearts—the core of our being. When our hearts are captivated, when we fall in love with something or someone, our lives naturally gravitate towards that which has captured us.

This insight is well understood by great leaders, coaches, marketers, teachers, pastors, and parents alike. They recognize that when you set a person’s heart on fire, they will find any obstacle surmountable.

Jesus was the unrivaled master at this. His words penetrated the heart to such a degree that many left their family members immediately to follow him. Some were recorded as saying, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” His words reached the person's core and, touching their identity, made no little impression. As a pastor, I aspire to emulate this approach, directing my efforts toward touching people's hearts for Jesus’ sake.

However, the temptation to get things done is always lurking. As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said, it’s like “drumming up people to collect wood and assign them tasks and work.” While this approach may achieve immediate goals, such as "building a ship," it fails to recognize that building ships and creating sailors require fundamentally different strategies.

I think of Antoine’s quote often as I’m doing my pastoral work. It serves as a reminder that my role is not merely to fill seats, increase giving, or recruit volunteers—as important as those tasks may be in church life. His quote helps me remember that I’m in the business of transforming people, and people are led by their hearts. This realization prompts me to shift my focus from simply getting things done to the deeper work of nurturing and guiding the heart.

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