The People Factor, by Van Moody

The tagline of The People Factor, by Van Moody, reads, "How building great relationships and ending bad ones unlocks your God-given purpose."  This book is a manual in doing just that.  It instructs you in both understanding and evaluating your relationships, so that you can make healthier choices and ultimately build a more joyful and fulfilling life.  It gives you a biblically-sound blueprint for strengthening the positive relationships in your life, and how to avoid or gracefully exit the bad ones.

This is truly one of the best books of its kind.  Moody writes with a warm, conversational style.  It is easy to read, and easy to understand, prompting many "A-ha" moments as I read.  The book is divided up into three logical sections:

1.  Critical Laws of Relationships
2.  How To Make The Most of Difficult choices
3.  Essentials of Great Relationships

A few sections that particularly spoke to me on a personal level were those about always being yourself; recognizing the people who are on your side, and in your life, for the long term;  how to navigate healthy relationships with unhealthy people;  realizing that you can't be friends with everyone;  releasing your past to embrace your future;  and how to make difficult choices and constructive transitions in your relationships.  

My favorite analogy was when he skillfully compared a relationship to expired milk... milk that once served a real, important, nourishing purpose... but ultimately became spoiled and was no longer healthy.  It beautifully and concisely illustrated a very important life lesson.

This book covers everything you need to know when it comes to the relationships in your life, and gives you a solid, biblical perspective on dealing with them in the best, most productive way possible.

Relationships are such an integral part of our lives, and Moody understands this so well.   This is a must-read for anyone needing to improve the relationships in his life (which is all of us!), and will aid in helping you become a better parent, partner, co-worker, and friend.