When I was growing up, one of my favorite books my mom would read to me was called The Little Red Hen. An 1874 American fable by Mary Mapes Dodge.

It’s a story about perseverance, belief in yourself and the ability to ignore all those that doubt you and think you are not capable of getting it done. We always called it, “The Chicken and the Bread”

In a nutshell, the story is about a barnyard chicken that wanted to simply bake a loaf of bread. The chicken went from farm animal to farm animal asking for help to cut the wheat, prepare the ingredients, chop wood, build the fire for baking etc.

But the farm animals were all too busy doing their own thing to help. The pig had things he had to do and would make no time to help the chicken achieve her goal; the horse was far too proud to waste his time on an untalented barnyard chicken; the cow was busy chewing her cud and just did not feel like it; the other chickens when asked, refused to help, and thought she was wasting her time.

As the story goes, the chicken decided to go ahead and do it all by herself despite the lack of help from others. She went out and cut the wheat, prepared the ingredients, chopped the wood, and built the fire for baking.

The cow just chewed her cud and rolled her eyes when she saw the chicken cutting the wheat; the pig just lied in the mud and chuckled as he watched the chicken gathering ingredients to prepare the bread for baking; the proud horse just ignored the chicken as she chopped wood and built the fire to bake the bread; the other chickens talked about her behind her back and teased her that she was just wasting her time.

Well, it wasn’t long before the chicken had everything she needed to bake her loaf of bread. She mixed the ingredients, stoked the fire, and placed the bread on a flat stone and set it on the fire.

At about that same time, the mouthwatering aroma of bread baking filled the barnyard.

Well, all the barnyard animals caught a whiff of the mouthwatering bread baking. The smell was irresistible for them so naturally they all wanted a piece of bread.

As the chicken was pulling the bread out of the fire, she noticed that she had an audience around her. All of the barnyard animals were standing in line for a piece of bread.

She looked at them and said, I paraphrased this a bit, “Hey pig, where were you when I needed help gathering ingredients? Hey cow, where were you when I needed help cutting the wheat? Hey horse, were you not too proud to help? Hey chickens, did you not make fun of me and say I was wasting my time? And now you want me to share my bread with you although you did nothing to help?

Nobody was willing to give, but they were all willing to take.

I have been on both sides of that story. There have been times in my life when I was unwilling to help a friend in need, even on some of the simplest of tasks. There have also been times when I had to do something completely on my own because no help was to be found.

One of the greatest lessons this story taught me is this: ‘The Cavalry isn’t coming.”

It seemed like every western I watched as a child, when things got really desperate for the pioneers, the bugle would blow off screen and the Cavalry would ride in on horseback and save the day. Well, life doesn’t work like that, at least not for me.

I have spent a great deal of my life staring at the ceiling waiting for God to show up and achieve my goals for me. I finally realized that was a total waste of time because God is already there. It is up to me, and me alone, and waiting for God to send the Cavalry was ridiculous.

People may not believe in you. They may think what you are striving for is a waste of time. They may even talk about you behind your back. To me, that is part of the process of becoming the person you want to be. Just keep telling yourself that it will be worth it as it was for the chicken.

Always remember that Noah built a really big boat in the middle of a drought. Don’t think for a second people did not make fun of him the same way the barnyard animals made fun of the chicken.

It was all fun and games for the others until the bread started to bake, and the rain started to fall.

All those that doubted them before now believed in someone that never stopped believing in themself. Noah and the chicken did not wait for the cavalry to come, they did it anyway.

I am learning that if I put in the work and do not grow weary of doing the right thing, the God that is already there will put the people in my path to keep me moving forward.

I go to work on my goals daily while holding onto God’s promises. I no longer wait for God to send the Cavalry, but I do wait patiently for His perfect timing.

I am my own Cavalry.

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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles will appear on Fridays.