Do you have friends who are “fired up” this week? You do. I do. There are voices of passion in the wake of the election. From every point on the spectrum, someone is making his or her enthusiasm or disappointment known. When our hearts are deeply rooted in a cause, we cannot help but to be moved to words. The words come easy.

“For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45

Our words can carry with them great force, but talk can be cheap. We can go on and on, a mile a minute, sharing thoughts. At the end of the day, where is the action?

In light of both the response to the election outcomes and my work with clients, I have been thinking about how it relates to the Thanksgiving holiday. We post to social media all we are grateful for, most commonly the people, places and things in our lives. What if we take time in this next week to come at this from a different angle? What if we consider giving thanks for the passion that stirs in us? From a place of gratitude, what would it look like to then give back, taking steps to move the needle?   We are all equipped with such unique purpose and our purpose becomes tangible when we put action to our passion.

During a walk with friends this weekend, we talked about how difficult it is to raise children to see beyond the “getting” of gifts for birthdays and holidays. Our conversation turned to ways we can show them what it means to have hearts of servants, authentically loving the world around them through both word and deed. The children of the next generation are watching us closely to see our response. If we can demonstrate this idea of putting action to our passions, they have the potential to be better equipped to heed our instruction and take it to the next level.

Start big. Start small. It doesn’t matter. Finish strong in 2016 by identifying a single act that will make an impact before this year comes to a close. Take it one step further by including friends and family to team up in giving back. It’s time we live out our passion instead of making noise.