John the Baptist’s mission was to prepare the way for Jesus.

Painting is Preparation

After I finished college, but before I attended seminary I spent a year working as a painter. I learned that painters do not spend most of their time painting. Most of the time is spent in preparation, especially if the surface has been painted before. Let’s say you want to paint a door and frame. You put down a drop cloth, so the clean-up will be easier. You sand the surfaces to be painted. You want to prepare the surface to receive the paint. Then you sand again with a finer grade of sand paper. You clean the surface, and then make sure it’s dry. You put masking tape on the floor and cover all the areas you don’t want painted. Finally, you’re ready to paint–but not the paint you’re going to end up using. You need a primer coat.

Anybody can take a brush, dip it in paint, and cover the surface. But that’s not painting. Painting is mostly preparation.