Sweet Stings On Rosh Hashanah

Question:
On Rosh Hashanah we eat apples and honey, for a sweet new year.

My question is, why specifically apples and honey? There are many sweet foods. Is there anything significant about them?
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Answer:
There is a difference, between the sweetness of an apple, and the sweetness of honey.

An apple is a sweet fruit, that comes from a tree.

But honey comes from a bee - an insect that is not Kosher; and not only that, it stings. Nevertheless, the honey that it produces is sweeter than an apple.
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Similarly, there are two types of sweetness in our lives. We have times of family celebration, successes in our careers, personal triumphs, and harmonious relationships. These are sweet times, like the apple is sweet.

But then there is a different type of sweetness; a sweetness that comes from times of challenge.

When things don't go, how we would like them; when tragedy strikes, when our job is in jeopardy, when we fail to reach the goals we expected of ourselves; and when our relationships are being strained and tested, and when we feel alone.
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At the time, when we are facing these challenges, they seem bitter and insurmountable, like the sting of a bee.

But if we are strong, and withstand the difficult times, and overcome the obstacles to our happiness; we then reveal a deeper layer of our being (the soul), that we would never have tapped into, if we weren't challenged.

Something deeper is brought out, when we are tested. Tension in a relationship is painful, but there's nothing better, than reconciling after that tension.

Losing a job is degrading, but how often is it that we find bigger and better things, to move on to. Loneliness can eat us up, but it can open us up, to higher levels of self-knowledge.

We have all experienced events in our lives, that at the time were painful, but in retrospect, we say, "Thank G-d for the tough times, imagine where I would be without them!"
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So we eat apples and honey, on the first day of the new year. And we bless each other and ourselves, that in the year to come, the apples should bring us sweetness; but also that the bee stings, should be even sweeter!