Our collective heart breaks today for Brooke Ledford, Lexie Pierce and their families.

The two teenage girls died Wednesday morning when the truck in which they were riding hit an icy patch of roadway and careened into an 18-wheeler. Lexi’s brother, Alex, was driving and survived the crash.

And even as we search for answers – why did such bright young lives have to end so soon? why this tragedy inflicted on these families? – we know they are not going to come.

Instead, we need to ask for solace and grace. We need to pray for these families and friends, for their schoolmates and those whose lives they touched.

And we need to treasure the memories of their lives. They were young, vibrant and energetic young girls whose passion for life permeated their days. They were full of laughter and love. They were good friends, a good sister, a good daughter and granddaughter. They were gifts, and their time with us was a gift, as well.

In their untimely death, they leave behind a lesson for us: to treasure each day and each person we hold dear, realizing that each day is a gift to us.

We know that even in their final moments they carried with them a deep and abiding faith in God’s grace and love, and that is a faith many of their friends and family share.

That faith and the support of a community will be important today as Brooke and Lexi are laid to rest, just as they will in the days and weeks to come.