# On Reflection & Expectation

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/homeschooling-outside-the-box-70325/on-reflection-expectation
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/homeschooling-outside-the-box-70325/on-reflection-expectation.md
Podcast: [Homeschooling Outside the Box](https://stenobird.com/podcast/homeschooling-outside-the-box-70325)
Published: 2026-01-03T16:52:00+00:00
Episode link: https://homeschoolingoutsidethebox.libsyn.com/on-reflection-expectation
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/homeschoolingoutsidethebox/On_Reflection__Expectation.mp3?dest-id=693367
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/homeschooling-outside-the-box-70325/episodes/on-reflection-expectation
Duration seconds: 1010

## Resource

Thank you for joining me for my 100th episode! This is one of my favorite weeks of the year. It's the "already, not yet" week. We have already experienced most of the year — we've made it through Christmas morning, decking the halls, singing carols, and slowly, slowly, we are emerging from our cocoa coma to realize a new year is upon us. This new year is a gift full of anticipation and though there are no guarantees, we make our plans, say our prayers, set our goals, and hope for a tomorrow better than yesterday, as good as yesterday may have been. Yet those of us who have lived enough years know that there will be trouble; dashed dreams, broken hearts, sickness, mourning, and disrupted plans. Goals will be unmet. Plans will change. And oh, among this hurt and sadness, joyful surprises will nurse our hearts and encourage us to hope once more. Already, not yet. For believers, we know that means we live in a world where Jesus has already rescued us, and yet…He has not returned for good. We still live in a broken world. So we wait in joyful hope. And sometimes in trembling fear, humble remorse, patient (or impatient) longing. We wait, but we live in the meantime. We strive to thrive and not merely survive. We look with longing and the longing leads us upward toward ideals of living not necessarily a great life, but a good one. This week captures that feeling better than any week of the year. It is full of reflection; it is full of expectation. Anything is possible…for better or for worse. So we make our plans. We lay them out like an offering. We hope that He multiplies the good and tosses out the bad as far as the east is from the west. We prepare to restart our homeschool year. We look upon it with fresh eyes after a long break. Things look clear — we wonder what in the…

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## Transcript

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