“Prepare the way…!” say Isaiah and John. As we prepare our homes to receive guests, we may find ourselves covering up more than we actually clean up. Piles of laundry, yet to be folded, are stashed out of sight. A quick wipe-down of surfaces is enough to give the impression of tidiness. But when God calls us to “make straight His paths”, He is not asking us to dress up and pretend. Like the crowds of John’s day, we are invited back to the waters of our baptism, to make a true confession of our sins, hiding nothing, and trusting that – for the sake of Christ – those sins, in the moment they are confessed, will be dissolved in the holy fire of God’s love.