Everyone has people that they would love to sit down and get to know; someone that they look up to and admire for one reason or another.  You have found a kindred spirit or a connection with this person and long to look into their eyes and truly share life’s stories with them, learn to see how they view the world.  However, some of these very people are no longer on this earth.  So, cue Cher’s song…”if I could turn back time”…

Jesus.
What I would give to look into His eyes, to feel His embrace, to hear Him speak my name, to ask Him all the questions I have hidden in my soul.  I know this encounter would change my life because He already has.  If I couldn’t meet with Him, nearly any person from the Bible would be able to fascinate me for hours.  Let me talk to Stephen about being willing to die for his faith or ask Paul what it was like to go from persecuting Christians to being one of them.  Or let me visit with Mary to find out what it was like to raise the Son of God or let David show me how to throw a slingshot.  I could have Mary Magdalene take me to the empty tomb and tell me all about that miraculous day.  Maybe Moses and I could meet at a sea and he could show me God’s power by parting it.  Esther could invite me to the palace for the night to be pampered by her royal servants and she could recount how she saved her people with her boldness.  The list could go on and on.  When I get to heaven, what a glorious day that will be!

Mother Teresa.
This woman gave her entire life to the poor of India.  My favorite part is that she loved the unlovable.  The people she ministered to were the ones with HIV/AIDS (something that people were scared of back in her time) and leprosy (there is such a stigma associated with skin disorders…believe me, I know…I’ve lived it).  She didn’t ask for anything in return.  She simply tried to give them what they needed most.  And she lived among them in the slums, started schools, provided medical care, ran orphanages.  She even won a Nobel Peace Prize, though I’m sure she wondered why because she was only doing what God called her to.  Her mission was to care for “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.”  And it wouldn’t be enough for me (or for her) to sit at a cafe over a nice lunch.  No, I’d want to be beside her in those slums hugging the lepers, crying with the brokenhearted, playing and hearing the laughter of the children, rocking orphans to sleep, and feeding the hungry.  I think it would be the most perfect way to spend a day.

Princess Diana.
Almost every little girl dreams of becoming a princess, so of course I would love to meet one!  And I couldn’t think of a better princess than Diana.  She was the people’s princess, very down to earth.  What I love about her is her genuine heart.  She gave so much of herself to charity and worked alongside the very same types of people that Mother Teresa did.  She bandaged the leper’s wounds, held the hands of the HIV victim, supported the homeless, and visited with kids suffering with cancer.  Diana also was an avid supporter of the arts.  I would love to attend a ballet alongside her.  Maybe she’d even let me borrow one of her tiaras!

Shirley Temple.
This woman inspired me in my childhood like no one else has.  I grew up watching her films as this curly-haired child with a big personality that could light up the world.  She could dance, sing, and act…everything that I loved.  I wanted to be her and in a lot of ways I am following in her footsteps.  I went to college for music.  I teach dance.  I love everything about being on stage or in front of a camera.  I could see Shirley and I out for an afternoon on the town and coming to a staircase, giving each other a look, and then breaking out into tap dancing up and down those stairs together.  Apparently, one year my cousin gave me her Shirley Temple doll as a gift and I was beyond excited that I was actually shaking and crying!  You can bet that when I have a little girl of my own some day, we will be watching Shirley Temple’s movies together.

There you have it.  If only I really could turn back time.