I held her extra tight tonight.

I whispered in her ear, “You are perfectly made.”

She quietly whispered back, “God made you the perfect mother for me.”

My eyes squeezed tighter and the tears began to fall.

They fell for the two handfuls of mamas who are in the deepest of despair tonight. Ten years ago when their babies were seven and eight years old like mine, ending their first and second grade years, nights full of playing in sprinklers and visits from the ice cream truck, they never imagined this.

These mamas once snuggled their little one and whispered sweet messages into their ears, dreaming about the day their baby would someday whisper sweet messages in her grand baby’s ears.

They never could have possibly imagined that they would send their child to school and while they were creating in art class, they would be stolen from them forever.

They never imagined that they would wait up at the command center of a mass shooting at their child’s school and wait for bus, after bus, after bus of children arriving and being reunited with their loved ones, only to see that final bus pull up, and not deliver their child into their arms.

None of us can even begin to fathom this level of pain. It surpasses heartbreak. It surpasses every word in the dictionary. It surpasses every emotion there is to be felt in this world.

Tonight, I am only one.

I am only one mom who feels the weight of a pain I hope to never know.

I am only one mom who feels the weight of utter helplessness as our country stands in the middle of this epidemic.

I am only one mom who sees this crisis isn’t just gun control, or just mental healthcare or just bullying, or just poor parenting, or just too much violence or just plain evil.

I am only one who mom who continues to pray for these families, even though the world asks me what my prayers are good for.

I am a mom who knows the power and strength of a God who is far greater than any evil could ever stretch. I am a mom who knows that these women, these mamas, need every last remaining ounce of prayers we have in us tonight.

As we hold our babies tighter, as we whisper into their ears, as we pray that they are kept safe, may we all remember to pray for the families who lost their everything today. Whose lives are forever changed. Whose very breath was taken for them.

I am only one mom today, but will you join me in this prayer so that my one can become many?

Because who ever said our village has to be people we’ve met? Let’s pray for these families like they are our neighbors.

For more of Meagan’s writing, follow her at The Love Filled Way on Facebook or at her blog, www.thelovefilledway.blogspot.com.