Tiger’s Road

An Accenture ad featuring Tiger Woods still up in the Atlanta airport got me thinking about the hope of forgiveness. Accenture has dropped Woods after his “unacceptable” behavior became public, but this ad is still on display. The ad shows Tiger Woods lost in what I presume is the tall grass of the British Open. He looks forlorne, cold and unhappy. Above him is the following phrase: “The road to high performance isn’t always paved.” It’s a particularly effective image given Tiger’s woes but a correlation I’m sure Accenture didn’t intend to invite.

It made me wonder how many of us truely understand what it means to forgive others or to forgive ourselves. I’ve gone through my fair share of tribulations this year and found myself pretty much on the opposite end of high performance aka success. My road has been anything but paved and yet I am still on it. We will all fail at some point in our lives, though not always as spectacularly as Tiger. What is worth holding on to when it happens, and it will, is that we are always faced with a choice: stay on the road and keep fighting or fall into the ditch and lay there. We have the power, with God’s grace, to redeem ourselves. That grace is not withheld from anyone. Not Tiger, not me, not even those who fail us. We all get a second chance and we should all be grateful for the almighty love and forgiveness that awaits us should we choose to accept it. Once we know we can be forgiven, and accept God’s grace, it’s up to us to show the power of that love by living our lives in such a way as to be an example of his redeeming power. When we do that, we will truly be high performers, no matter how hard the road we travel.

Update:

Another Accenture ad found in the Atlanta Airport, this one as laughable as the last.  I like the small script in the bottom: “We know what it takes to be Tiger.”  I’ll bet they do.