1 And now it came to pass that I received an epistle from Ammoron, the king, stating that if I would deliver up those prisoners of war whom we had taken that he would deliver up the city of Antiparah unto us.
2 But I sent an epistle unto the king, that we were sure our forces were sufficient to take the city of Antiparah by our force; and by delivering up the prisoners for that city we should suppose ourselves unwise, and that we would only deliver up our prisoners on exchange.
3 And Ammoron refused mine epistle, for he would not exchange prisoners; therefore we began to make preparations to go against the city of Antiparah.
4 But the people of Antiparah did leave the city, and fled to their other cities, which they had possession of, to fortify them; and thus the city of Antiparah fell into our hands.
As I think about the experience Helaman shared in the passage above, I’m struck by his calm objectivity and his self-restraint. When the king of the Lamanite army offered to give back a city in exchange for the Lamanite prisoners Helaman had taken, he instantly recognized that this was not a good deal. His leadership team had concluded that they could take the city, and therefore he didn’t need to do a trade. His calculations proved accurate, as the Lamanites soon abandoned the city, and so he regained it with no effort at all.
Sometimes I encounter tasks or obstacles which look daunting but which prove, on further inspection and analysis, to be much easier to overcome than they appear. If I can avoid being intimidated and can take the time to objectively gather the facts and make a plan, I can make wiser decisions about which challenges to tackle and how to spend my time and energy.
Today, I will consider the challenges I face and the goals I have set as objectively as possible. I will try to assess the difficulty of each challenge accurately, so that I can use my time and other resources where they are most needed and avoid squandering them needlessly.
Sometimes I encounter tasks or obstacles which look daunting but which prove, on further inspection and analysis, to be much easier to overcome than they appear. If I can avoid being intimidated and can take the time to objectively gather the facts and make a plan, I can make wiser decisions about which challenges to tackle and how to spend my time and energy.
Today, I will consider the challenges I face and the goals I have set as objectively as possible. I will try to assess the difficulty of each challenge accurately, so that I can use my time and other resources where they are most needed and avoid squandering them needlessly.
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