Are You Wasting Your Dash? Gratitude and Contentment in Real Estate

If real estate feels like both blessing and burden, this episode is your invitation to breathe again.

The truth? Even on holidays, the industry whispers that you should be doing more — checking emails, thinking about the next deal, staying “productive.” But the way of Jesus calls us into something radically different: gratitude, presence, and trust.

In this Thanksgiving reflection, Garrett unpacks what it means to stop chasing “things too great or too marvelous” and instead quiet your soul like Psalm 131. He shares personal stories of anxiety, misplaced priorities, and how reframing life through the dash — the line that represents your entire life — can realign you toward what truly matters.

You’ll hear how Scripture anchors us when hustle tries to steal our peace, why gratitude is a discipline not a feeling, and how choosing presence over pressure reshapes both your heart and your business.

You’ll Learn

• How the idea of the dash reveals what actually matters in your life and leadership

• Why gratitude is a spiritual weapon against anxiety, hurry, and comparison

• What Psalm 131 teaches about calming your soul when your mind is racing

• How to recognize when ambition has replaced trust in God’s provision

• Why even “good things” can become distractions when they steal you from your purpose

• Practical ways to pursue intentional living daily — not just on holidays

Next Steps

• Pause for perspective:
  Take a quiet moment this week and pray,
  “Lord, how am I spending my dash — and what needs to change?”

• Practice gratitude:
  Write down 5 things God has provided this year, especially in areas that felt uncertain or painful.

• Be present:
  Put your phone away during family time. Let gratitude—not hustle—set the tone for the day.

• Share this episode:
  Encourage another agent who needs permission to slow down, breathe, and trust God’s provision again.

Transcript and Highlights:

Garrett reflects on the meaning of the dash — the line between the year you’re born and the year you die — and how intentional gratitude reframes the way we live that space in between. He walks through Psalm 131’s call to a “calmed and quieted soul” and 1 Thessalonians 5:18’s command to give thanks in all circumstances. Garrett shares openly about his January anxiety attack, how misplaced ambition pulled him away from peace, and how Scripture brought him back to simplicity and trust.
The episode ends with a challenge to choose presence over pressure and to live your dash with purpose, gratitude, and confidence in God’s provision.

Garrett Maroon

What is up, faithful agents? Happy Thanksgiving.
If you're listening on Thanksgiving Day… what are you doing? Go hang out with your family.

But truly, I am thankful for each and every one of you, and I hope this short episode will be a helpful reflection for all of us — myself very much included — as we think about how grateful we are for the dash, the dash that represents our life. We're going to dive into that as we reflect on life's true priorities through the lens of Thanksgiving, through biblical wisdom, drawing from some of the themes in the book I just wrote that launched two days ago, if you're listening to this on Thanksgiving. Talking about intentional living.

Just so thankful that you're here. I hope this will be a short blessing for you on this day or whenever you listen to it.

Let me start — because it's Thanksgiving and obviously every one of you is thankful for my jokes — I'm going to start there with some Thanksgiving jokes.

What do you call a turkey who tells jokes?
A comedie-hen.

That's… okay.

Why did the corn go to therapy?
It had too many ears listening in.

That's not funny.

And finally — what do you call a turkey on the day after Thanksgiving?
Lucky.

That's good.

Alright, here's the last one — I promise:
Why did the cranberry blush?
It saw the turkey dressing.

You don't know how hard it is to be funny to the point of making yourself laugh when you're just sitting here in your office by yourself. It's probably a little bit weird if anybody was watching.

Anyways, I am so glad you're here. Again, if you're listening to this on Thanksgiving — happy Thanksgiving. What a genuinely amazing time to just stop and spend time with family and loved ones and reflect on all the things the Lord has done in your life. Doesn't mean things have been perfect. Doesn't mean everything’s easy. But it does mean we have so much to be thankful for.

In my book, The Balanced Breakthrough, that's now officially out — I'm super excited — you can go grab that anywhere books are sold. But I talk about the concept of the dash, which is the line between your birth year and the year that you die.

When you look at someone's headstone, you see the year they're born, the year they died, and the dash. And the dash represents the entirety of their life.

As we stop and reflect through Thanksgiving, and we reflect through this dash idea, number one:
We want to recognize we only have one dash. The story has already been written by the Lord.

And the question we need to stop and think about is:
How am I spending my dash?

Not yet — you're still here. We're still listening. We don't know when the dash is going to end. But that's the entirety of our lives.

As we stop and think through questions — if you're listening on Thanksgiving or even if you're not — and you're sitting there thinking, “Well, I need to get out there, I need to sell more homes.” You're thinking about a deal. You're thinking about whatever.

I totally get that. But the reality is:
How am I spending my dash?

Am I proud of spending my dash being consumed by work, comparison, selling more houses, making more money, helping more agents get loans? Whatever your scenario is.

Or am I proud of saying,
“Lord, please help me shut this off so I can just be present with my family. Enjoy this time. Not be so stressed out. Not be anxious. But really try to figure out — okay — I’ve got one dash. How do I want to spend it?”

I want to spend it in pursuit of the Lord and what He has for me.
And the things I know He has for me are my wife, my kids, my relationship with Him… and yes, business. I want to do that well. But how do we spend the dash we have?

You can even think of each day as its own little dash — each day is another chapter in your life.

As I think through Psalm 131 — many of you have heard me tell my story — in January 2024 I had a really big anxiety attack. It led me to Psalm 131, where David, who is not quite king yet, is writing from a cave. Saul is chasing him.

Great Thanksgiving message…

But he says:
“I do not desire things too great or too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul.”

We see this posture from David before God and how it mirrors what we should pursue during Thanksgiving:
Calm. Quiet. Intentional gratitude.

We're not desiring things too great or marvelous for us.
We’ve calmed and quieted our soul.
We're in a spot where we feel contentment. Gratitude.

You might not be there right now — I'm not there that often either. But it's a good time for us to pause and reflect and say:

“Lord, help me to have a calm and quiet spirit. Help me to have a calm and quiet soul, fully trusting and thankful for Your provision.”

It might not look exactly like I wanted. In fact, it probably doesn't.
But Lord, this is what You’ve given me.
You have provided this.
Therefore, I know it is enough.

King David is writing this sitting in a cave under pursuit of Saul, who's trying to kill him.

And yet — calm… quiet… gratitude.

Maybe you want to take a minute and say,
“There’s been so much going on — even in the busyness of getting ready for Thanksgiving — maybe I should just go on a quick walk.”
Say, “Lord, help me to have intentional gratitude for all the things You’ve blessed me with.”

Even if it's not what I wanted.
Even if the year has been incredibly hard.
The Lord is so gracious.
He has blessed you in immeasurable ways that we don’t deserve.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us:
Give thanks in all circumstances.

So whatever the season is — yeah, it's been a weird year in the market. Totally.

But we are required and called to give thanks in all circumstances.

So my question to you is:
What can you be thankful for?

It's easy to complain. I do that.
I see that in my kids all the time.

“Hold on kiddos — let's think about what the Lord has graciously given us.”

Could be as simple as:
“I woke up today.”
“I have a car I can drive.”
“I have a business I can build.”
“It’s been a hard year, but I'm still here.”

Let us give thanks in all circumstances.

If God commands thanksgiving in all circumstances…
It means we will always have something to be thankful for in every circumstance.

The reality is: we're not great at this.
We’re like the Israelites.

The Lord brings them out of bondage.
Gets them through the Red Sea.
Destroys the Egyptians.
Provides water from a rock.
Manna from heaven.

And they still say,
“Yeah, but what have You done for me lately?”

We do the same.

In January 2024, when I had that anxiety attack — it was not because the Lord wanted me to have one. It was a recognition I was in pursuit of things too great and marvelous for me.

I wasn’t living Psalm 131.
I was building a speaking business, Amazon business, writing a book, building a team, reinvesting everything… all at once.

I was burned out.
My priorities were wrong.
I wasn’t trusting the Lord to take care of me.

My mom had died the year before.
I worried I wouldn’t get enough time with my kids.
I was anxious.
It was scary.

But Psalm 131 shifted my heart.
Still a battle — but it anchored me.

At the end of the Psalm he says:
“Israel, hope in the Lord, now and forevermore.”

That’s what we get to focus on.

There’s a scene in War of the Worlds — aliens invading, chaos everywhere — and Tom Cruise picks up his daughter and says:
“Look only at me.”

If you look to the right or left, you’ll see chaos.
But if you look at Me — you'll know everything’s okay.

That is the Lord.

I challenge all of us to pause, reflect, write down:
“Lord, what am I truly grateful for?”

What relationships do you need to invest more in?
What distractions or pressures are stealing your focus from what matters most?

We can win at work without losing at life.
We don't have to sacrifice family for business.
My encouragement to you: be present. Be grateful.

Leave your dash on purpose.

I am truly grateful for all of you — your support, your kindness, your messages, your encouragement.

If I can help in any way, reach out.
You can text me at 804-878-2200.
If you text me on Thanksgiving, I'm not going to answer — but you can text me.

My heart is that Christian agents look different from the world:
Grateful.
Confident in the Lord’s provision.
Content.

And when people ask why?
We get to say:
“Because I have Jesus.”

I love you, faithful agents.
I will see you next week.