Psalm 123.

A song of ascents.

¹ I lift up my eyes to you,
    to you who sit enthroned in heaven.
² As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
    as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he shows us his mercy.

³ Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us,
    for we have endured no end of contempt.
⁴ We have endured no end
    of ridicule from the arrogant,
    of contempt from the proud.

We take air for granted. We're breathing continuously, and only think about air when it smells bad, we're exercising and there doesn't seem to be enough of it, or when we're at altitude. There's a greatness in getting back to the basics, the simple wonder of the simplest things. Mountaineering affords us that as we only pack the essentials, we get back into touch with the elements by exposing ourselves to them, feeling every ache and pain and muscle and blister as we hike, and feeling the limitations of our lungs when the air is lacking at altitude. We don't notice until it's not there.

We take God for granted. Without Him, the world would fly apart - there would *be* no atmosphere, no planet, no universe, no life.
That's so obvious that it doesn't register. But worse, we take Him for granted as if He were the servant, and we are the master. Our prayers reflect this reversal of roles when we constantly ask for things, for God to bless our days and plans and food - when we only pray when all seems wrong or when someone's ill. Are we so self-centered that we think we're showing God a mercy by giving Him some of our marginal time? The Master's mercy is like the air around us, we move in it and only notice when we feel a lack.

Altitude should also offer us a different view of where we were, when we're high enough to look down on where we normally live. Here in Bako, with some of the worst air in the nation, a little altitude shows that while there's less air up there, the air is a whole lot cleaner. Colors are more vibrant. Light is brighter. Looking down on a blanket of brown in the valley is a reminder that the day-to-day here can give us a dingy view of what's normal, and isn't really healthy.

So we could say, "More air! Cleaner air!" but our focus isn't environmental. We say, "More mercy! A clearer view of your mercy, Master!"